Quest for Home
by hanjuuluver
Summary: When Ed finds himself in another fight with Envy after returning from the gate, he finds himself thrust back through it, but not to Germany. Can he find his way back?Xover with hpfma-- Book7 replacement fic. Different, I promise! COMPLETED!
1. The Encounter

Hey there! This is a HP/FMA fic (as was mentioned in the summary) and it takes place after the sixth book and at the end of the series, only with Ed going to England the second time rather than Germany. As such, it will not follow the 7th HP book, as there is none and contain spoilers for both. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED! THERE SHALL BE SPOILERS! I hope this will be a bit more original than some other fics with this crossover, and that Ed will be as height-deprived as ever. Ed: WHO ARE YOU CALLING A HEIGHT DEPRIVED SHRIMP COMPLETE WITH COCKTAIL SAUCE! Me: hey, you said it, not me… but see how much more fun he is when he's short? Ed: I AM NOT A MIDGET-SIZE ANT THAT YOU CAN'T HIT BECAUSE IT'S SO SMALL! Me: Oo anywho… because this is my first crossover with anything involving HP, suggestions and constructive criticism is worshiped. Now I am rambling and you are wondering when I will start the story, so as soon as I tell everyone that I do not own any of these characters nor am I making any money off this fic, sadly… I could use some cash… then I can start. Oh, hey! I just did tell you that! So on to the story at last! Ed: I'm scared now…

Chapter 1: the encounter

A group of three people in their late teens were walking through a thick wooded area. One had dark, messy black hair with startling green eyes, the second had fiery red hair that was slightly dimmed by the dirt that was encrusting itself their from the three days that they had gone with out shower. The third of these figures had long, bushy brown hair and an aura of intelligence around her. They walked in silence for a while before the black-haired one broke the stillness by saying, "Hey Hermione, what town was it that the second horcrux was in?"

"It is supposed to be somewhere in Kent." The girl who was clearly Hermione answered him.

"Hey Harry," said the red-head.

"Yah Ron, what is it?" said the boy called Harry.

"Do you think that… WHAT THE BLOODY HELL IS THAT!" he shouted as he pointed to the left of the group at a strange figure that much resembled a palm tree crossed with a guy in a skirt.

"Oh, come now. don't you remember me?" said the figure as it stepped out from the shadow of the tree reveling not much that hadn't been noted before except for the eyes which were dark and soul less. 

"And why should we?" asked Harry, reaching in his pocket for his wand. 

"Oh, that's right, you don't recognize this form, do you?" it said while5  
Chuckling slightly to itself before changing into a form that Harry knew all too well.

"Voldemort." He said with venom in his voice.

"Hmm… not my favorite name, but I suppose you are close." It said with a smirk before leaping in the air, pulling a dagger out of his sleeve. (A/n: incase you don't recognize the 'it' it's Envy. I was switching between it and he because first, Envy is, well… Envy, but also Voldemort, so from this point on Envy is a he. Sorry for any confusion in that part. Back to story!)

"HEY FREAK! DON'T GO SWITCHING TARGETS ON ME NOW!" shouted a loud male voice as a flying blonde pipsqueak came soaring through the air, clapping his hands and touching his right arm which instantly changed into a dangerously sharp blade. 'Voldemort' stopped in mid air, turning to face the oncoming threat.

"Oh, so you are here, are you?" he asked nonchalantly as he stepped to the side just in time to miss the onslaught.

"Don't give me that you bastard you just—"

"Ah-ah now, let's not point fingers, shall we? I really must be going now. Good bye!" and with a crack he vanished.

"Damn. I lost that bastard again." The blonde said as he clapped his hands again, touching the blade he had created. In the place where he put his hands the trio noticed a blinding blue light that ran down the blade leaving a metal arm in its wake. Once the light faded, the blonde looked up at the three teens saying in a perfectly calm voice as if nothing had even happened, "hey, you three ok?"

"Umm… yah, I guess. But who are you?" asked Harry, speaking for all of them as he looked at the blond boy. In addition to his blond hair, he had stunning golden orbs for eyes what shone with fierce intensity, protection, anger, pain, and a thousand other emotions that Harry didn't know if he could ever identify. He wore a black long sleeve shirt (one arm was shredded and hanging loosely where the arm-blade had cut them reveling a metal arm which Harry had never seen anything similar to before) with a black vest over it, buttoned with a silver bar at the top and a pair of black leather pants and boots that seemed to boost his height by at least three or four inches and he wore a glove on his left hand, as the one on the right had been shredded worse than the sleeve had.

"Oh, that's right. People here don't know me, do they? Heh…" he said, more to himself than anything else. "I'm Edward Elric. And you?" Harry was a bit taken aback by the fact that there was still someone out there that didn't know who he was. Unless this Edward person was a muggle, but then how could he have done that trick with his metal arm? He would have to ask about that. "I'm Harry, this is Ron, and that is Hermione, over there." He said as he indicated each person by name. Hermione and Ron stared at the strange blonde for a minute before Ron spluttered, "that was bloody brilliant! How did you do that thing with your arm!"

"RON!" Hermione reproached him, though she had been wondering the same thing.

"Alchemy." He said simply. Upon seeing their blank looks he explained, "It's a science in which the components of an object is broken down, reconfigured, and re-assembled. Because my arm is metal," he grimaced at that a bit, but no one but Harry really noticed. "I can make a metal sword out of it. There's a bit more to it than that, but that's the basics."

"Edward," Harry started before Ed cut him off.

"Call me Ed. It sounds less like you're trying to kill me." He said simply. (a/n: I found that line in someone else's fic and thought it was awesome. I cant remember which one it was, so know only that that is not my line! If you know who it belongs to, or if it belongs to you, let me know so I can give credit)

"Ummm…… ok, Ed. How do you know Voldemort?" Harry finished.

"VOLDEMORT!" he shouted loudly while laughing so hard he doubled over. Hermione and Ron cringed slightly at the fact that this kid took that name so lightly and spoke it so simply, almost as if it was a joke. "Is THAT the name he's going by! Ha! Envy, you've sunk really low to go by a dumb name like that!" he shouted into the air, almost as if he was expecting the palm-tree person to be listening in. after recovering his breath and composure he decided to answer the question. "Lets just say he has almost as much of a reputation as I do where I come from. And you? How do you know that freak of a sin?" 

"He's been after me since the day I was born."

"Heh, same here." Ed put in reflecting on his father. 'But how the heck did he cross the gate then? There's more to this story than any of us know right now, but maybe if I stick with these kids they can give me the information I need. Not to mention that he seems to be after them too, so the best possible way to ensure another encounter with him will be to stick with them. Lets just see where this takes me. Hopefully it will be another way back to Al and Winery.' He thought before turning to back to face the trio again. "Hey, could I join you?" he asked the Harry, who seemed to be the leader of the group. 

"If you don't mind having a 90 chance of being attacked at any moment, then yah, sure."

"Really? Only 90? That sounds like a wonderful break from my daily life. I've been needing a vacation!" He said jokingly. While Ron and Hermione looked at him like he must be crazy (which would have explained the fact that he was so impassive to the danger that they had just been in and took seeing the Dark Lord so lightly), Harry just laughed and thought, _'I just might have found the only person on this planet or any other that actually understands what I face. This will be interesting.'_ Little did he know that Ed was thinking the same thing.

"So, where are you three headed?" Ed asked them.

"We were going to Kent. It's a city near the ocean and its main income comes from fishing and trade." Hermione said excitedly, never being able to pass up a chance to show her knowledge.

"and what were you going to do there?" Ed asked her.

"I can't tell you that. Maybe once we get there I can." She said as she looked to Harry for confirmation. He nodded his agreement and started walking down the path as he said, "It's a long walk. We should get started." Hermione looked over at Ron who shrugged and started after Harry. Ed stayed where he was for a moment. "I have a feeling that we are both after one of the same goals. To see Envy dead. I wonder what he has done to you to make you go after him like this…" he murmured to himself before he too started down the hill, repairing the sleeve of his shirt and pulling on a spare white glove over the auto-mail hand.

Thisisascenedivider 

"Hey Ed." Ron said to the new traveler.  
"Yah Ron, what is it?"  
"You said earlier that you used Alchemy. I know that you already said that it was a kind of science, right? But it looked like a kind of wandless magic." Ron said. Ed read the silent question, but also picked up the words 'wand' and 'magic'. There wasn't such thing as magic. Not even in this world. Or was there?  
"Magic? Wand? What are you talking about? Magic isn't real." It was both a statement of denial and a question with hope. Magic couldn't be real, but if it was there might be another way to get back through the gate and to Ametris.  
"Yes it is, but most muggles, that's non-magical people, don't know about it. But this Alchemy, I've only heard of it once before and that was when we were doing research on Nicholas Flamel, the only known creator of the philosophers stone, but he—" Hermione started to say.  
"THE STONE! THERE WAS ONE HERE TOO! THAT'S IT! I CAN USE THAT TO GET BACK HOME TO AL AND WINRY! WHERE IS IT!" Ed screamed, cutting Hermione off and looking around wildly as if he expected the stone to be lying right in front of him.  
"It was destroyed! Six years ago to keep Voldemort from getting it and getting his body back!" said Ron, staring at the over-reactive Ed. After hearing this, he calmed down, almost looking depressed.

"Sorry. I… I didn't mean to just jump on you all like that. I've just been through hell lately. Sorry." _'hell's an understatement. For god's sake! I've practically died! THREE TIMES! That can't be considered normal. Not to mention being torn away from the only people I have ever really cared about. I just hope their ok._ "I've just got to be alone for a while. There's some stuff I have to think about." He said simply as he walked off behind the trees to the left. Ron and Hermione exchanged looks of questioning and mistrust as Harry looked at the sky and shrugged. "It's starting to get dark anyway, so it would probably be a really good idea to stop here anyway." He then walked off only about five or six feet away from where Ed had entered the forest at, giving the blond some space.

"Do you think we can trust him?" Hermione asked once he had gone.

"I don't know, but that 'alchemy' of his will be really useful if we can. I mean, think of it, 'mone! It's a form of magic that no one in this world knows anything about! The only two who did were Nichols Flamel and Dumbledoor, and Flamel must have died only a few weeks after the stone was destroyed, and Dumbledoor…" He trailed off after that, pain evident in his eyes.

"I know, Ron, I know." Hermione said, her eyes reflecting the hurt in his. "I just can't help but wish he was here. he would know what to do. But for now we have to trust in Harry's judgment. If he says it's ok for Ed to come along with us, then we have to accept that and trust him for now. but nonetheless, we should still keep an eye on him. you saw how he reacted when he heard about the stone! I wonder what he was talking about… and why would he need the _stone_ to get back to his house? I wonder just where he's from anyway."

"I don't know, 'mione. But I agree with you. We should keep an eye on him. I'd hate to be the guy that pissed him off like _he _did. What was up with him anyway? Not Ed, but… you know…" Ron wondered.

"Oh, Ron, HONESTLY! Just say his name! Voldemort! It's not that hard of a name!"

"yah, yah, I know… but really, what was up with the shape-shifting? Not to mention that palm-tree form. What the bloody hell was up with that anyway? As far as I know he could never do that before. What happened, ya think?"

"I don't know, but all the shape-shifting didn't seem to affect Ed. I wonder just how they know each other anyway. Ed said that Voldemort had been after him too. At least that means that they're not both on the same side." Hermione said as she started to walk towards the place where Harry had disappeared into the trees, Ron following her as they continued to go over all the strange occurrences of the day.

_**To be continued…**_

A/N: so, what do ya think? Is it different yet? Are you going to keep reading? Do you think/know I'm crazy? Oo well, let me know! I'm sorry if Ed seems Bipolar in this chapter, but I SWEAR he gets less-so in later chapters!

Ed: YOU ARE A CRUEL TORMENTER!

Me: I know! Isn't it great! Um… I mean… no I'm not!

Ed: …

Me:…… so… do you like it? This idea has been festering in my brain since shortly after I started writing my other cross-over fic, Unexpected friends. Which Ed is also in.

Ed: NON-EXISTENT GOD! PLEASE SAVE ME! SHE'S CRAZY!

Me: oh, come off it! I'm actually being nice to you in my other fic! Well, minus the fact that I'm making you stuck in a whole other world, but hey! I'm doing that in this fic to! Point is, I've had this idea for a while and finally decided to get off my metaphorical ass and actually sit down and write it! (since I was sitting, the metaphorical is implied… Oo…) so let me know if you like this and think I should continue of if I should just erase it completely. Flames, constructive criticism, mental support, and of course praise reviews are all worshiped! And no, I am not kidding about the mental support. I have an evil teacher who makes my life a living hell in which I end up staying up till around 11:00 at night every night, waking up at 5:30 to get ready for school. YEAY SLEEP-DEPRAVATION! That would be why I asked about my sanity earlier and also for mental support. But yes, any reviews on this are SORELY needed! Especially if you want to see more of this, because I am requiring at least four reviews before I update this! Mwahahahahaha! So let me know what ya think! Or if you see a miss spelling on a name! God I suck at spelling! And my grammar's not that great either, so…yah… oh! and before I forget, my mom has done something with my 6th HP book, and I can't find it, so if anyone out there could tell me what the remaining horcrux's are, PLEASE TELL ME! **PRESS THE LITTLE BLUE REVIEW BUTTON! PLEASE!**


	2. Questions

This be the second installment of the epic of "quest for home". And that, my good readers, is the side affects of being forced to read too many books that take place in old England. –sigh- well, this chapter is one of those things that keep running through your mind and you really can't see much of the point of them at the time, and just have to hope that once you start writing some actual plot will find its way in. it is NOT going to be a completely random and meaningless chapter, because if it was I wouldn't even bother loading it, so be consoled in that. Also, I would like to thank **D.sist **for not only the awesome review, but for a GREAT idea that I think I just might use! And let's not forget all my other reviewers! **Me And My God Complex** (awesome name btw!), **silver windflame**, and I can't forget my first reviewer and saving grace with this fic, **Hedwig the** **MilleniumOw**l! She has been continually saving my ass with this fic in the since that I actually have an idea what I am doing now! IT'S A MIRACLE! Enough with the rambling now, and on to the fic!

Disclaimer: incase no one here was aware, I do not own Harry Potter, or FMA, though I would like to own Ed.

Ed: SAVE ME DEAR GOD! –runs in fear of hanjuuluver-

Last chapter: the HP group are walking in a forest, Envy jumps out, then transforms into Voldemort, Ed attacks Envy, and joins up with the HP group.

Chapter two: Questions…

When Harry awoke the next morning he found Ed sitting across from the small opening they had found the previous night, propped up against a tree with a slice of bread in his hand, and now dressed in a pair of blue jeans and a red shirt bearing a strange symbol of a serpent wraped around a cross and biting its tail. His long blond hair was pulled back in the same clean braid as before, golden eyes observing every movement.

"Hey, so you're finally awake? Good. Would you like some breakfast? I made it a while ago, but I'm sure it's still perfectly fine." He said, jerking his head towards a loaf of bread, three apples, and a pot of coffee which was emitting an intoxicating aroma. Harry blinked his eyes a few times, remembering the events of the previous day before suddenly realizing something.

"Wait!" he said as he sat bolt upright, staring in wonder at all the things around him. "You said you didn't believe in magic, so where did all this stuff come from! I know for a fact that we didn't bring any of this stuff with us, and you didn't have anything but the clothes on your back last night!" he shouted almost accusingly.

"Heh, don't give yourself a heart attack there! I'd hate to be the one to tell those two that their leader killed himself over this matter. Besides, I have a feeling that that is not the way you are intended to go. Am I right?" he asked, not pausing for an answer before continuing, "as for how these things got here, I just used alchemy. This is a fertile forest, with many elements for me to use. For the bread I just used some of the surrounding trees and grasses, there's actually an apple tree not too far from here, and the coffee… well that was a bit harder, but far from impossible. And the clothes are mostly just re-used fibers. I can transmute them back later." Ed said, gesturing a bit with his hands. As he spoke, Harry noticed an accent in his voice, though it was mostly concealed.

"Where did you say you came from again? And how is it you knew so much about me?"

"Germany. I lived there with my dad. My Mom passed away when I was little. The reason I was out here in the first place is that I was trying to find my brother." Ed said, telling the full truth to the incredulous boy. _'Well, technically I'm not lying. Sure, I left out the whole part of my father being a previously immortal bastard, my brother being in a different world, and the fact that I haven't been to Germany to visit my dad for god knows how long. But hey, at least I'm not completely lying, right?' _ He thought to himself before continuing. "and there are three reasons that I could figure out all that about you. First, your eyes betray your loss of innocence. You have seen death, and more than once to for that matter. I know that look better than you will probably ever know. And the way your friends over there follow you. They really do trust you, and they know that they can rely on you to see them through nomater what cost it is to you, and are probably willing to do the same for you. And the last was that no one who hasn't seen their share of trouble would be this damn perceptive! That's defiantly going to come in handy when you find yourself in a bad situation."

"You're pretty observant yourself, aren't you? Hey, the other night, why did you call Voldemort Envy? And do you know why he can shape shift?" Harry asked, thinking to himself that since this person seemed to be quite informed he may know something that would be useful to them on their hunt. He never would have guessed that Ed had thought the vary same thing just the night before.

"I called him Envy because that is who he truly is. He is a homunculus created through alchemy. It is a forbidden form of alchemy that well _never_ work for anyone. Reason being that there is no substitute for a soul. Yes, Harry, he was someone's failed attempt at bringing someone back from the dead." He paused a moment to let the enormity of it sink in as Harry looked questioningly over at him, picking up an apple and some of the bread. Ed ignored the silent question of 'if it is forbidden, then how do you seem to know so much about it?' and simply continuing on. "each of the homunculi were named after one of the seven sins, so they were often referred to as 'the sins'. Each sin had a power, and Envy's just so happened to be shape shifting. That is why he can change forms. Now I have a question for you. You seemed to recognize that hideous form he took right before I attacked him, but not his usual cross-dressing form?"

"Ummm… yah, that's right." Harry said, not quite sure what to expect from this new person.

"So, tell me. What did that bastard do to piss you three off? Not to mention the fact that he seemed to be after you just as much as he is me. And me after him too it seems. And, if you want me to be of any help to you whatsoever, you might want to let me in on the real purpose of this trip. Something tells me that you're not just going to visit your granny." Ed said, clearly telling Harry that he wanted to know what was going on.

"He killed my family when I was just a baby with the killing curse. He tried to use it on me, but it didn't work. Instead it somehow backfired, and he was reduced to almost nothing. Then, he decided to get vengeance on me, and I don't want to spend the rest of my life in hiding, so we're going to try to get rid of him. that's it." Harry knew that they would need Ed as an ally. He clearly knew more about this new Voldemort than he did, so he would have to tell him the truth. Telling all of it was still optional however, and he had no intention of telling the whole story yet. Not till he knew this person better.

"so you just have a strange feeling that someone like Envy would just go to a nice sunny beach and get a tan or something? Well, I can tell you don't trust me quite enough yet. I don't blame you. That bastard will try anything to get what he wants." Ed paused a moment, debating how much he should tell this person. _'I don't know him that well, and I know those friends of his even less, but if I don't tell him anything he's going to stay even more suspicious of me, then I'll never find the stone, Envy, or my way home for that matter. Huh, I guess I don't have that much of a choice then, do I? The sooner I get this over with the sooner I can get back home to Al and Winery.'_ He thought as he took a deep breath and continued._ "_ That is how he knows me. I stood in the way of him getting what he wanted, the bastard. Him and the other sins wanted to force me to make a… a philosophers stone. I'm not sure if you all know this or not, but the stone is an alchemy enhancer. It can allow whoever possesses it to perform types of alchemy that could never be done otherwise. Like human transmutation. See, homunculi are spirits encased in flesh. They have no souls, but they want them more than anything else. The stone could give them that. And I was the only alchemist, other than my father, who could give them that. But I had done some research into the stone already. And what I found was the one thing that could put me off from ever making one of these stones. It was… human souls. And in mass numbers. If you wanted to make a stone, you would have to kill. I had my own reasons for wanting the stone though, and even though I knew I would NEVER make one myself, I would search the world over to find it. It could give me the one thing I wanted more than anything else, and I had to have it. But that is what kept the homunculi after me. They were waiting for me to find it for them so they could kill me and get it for themselves. Clearly that didn't happen, but they are still after me. That is why I went after Envy. Along with some more… personal… reasons." Ed added as he clenched both fists tightly, leaving small red nail marks on his human hand and causing the metal one to clink slightly as his metal fingers met the metal of his palm. Harry noticed this and also picked up on what Ed was doing. _'He doesn't want to be isolated from us. He wants us to feel like we can trust him! Well, he just gave us some useful information. I suppose telling him why we are going to Kent is the least I could do for that.'_

"We were going to Kent to find one of Voldemort's horcruxs. Though I am not sure what this 'humunculus' would want with one, or even if it's possible. You see, a horcrux is an object which contains part of a person's soul. They siphon it off, giving an effect that, in a way, leaves them immortal. But the homunculi you describe have no soul, so I don't know how that's possible. Now I'm not even sure if the horcruxs are real or not…"

"I wouldn't leave out the possibility. I don't know how Envy could _make_ one, but think I do know why he wants them." Ed said, glad that they were finally communicating information, not to mention some good points. "you remember how I said that the only thing the homunculi really want is to have a soul? If he simply unbinds the soul from each object, he could consume it and become whole again. Though I don't know how he could do that without the use of alchemy."

"Well, I'm not sure about Envy, but Voldemort is one of the, if not the most, advanced wizards in the world. I suppose it's possible that he could—" at that moment Hermione sat up, looking completely awake.

"I see you heard what we were talking about. Would you care to join in the conversation? Any ideas would be useful. Oh, and help yourself to some breakfast." Ed said to the girl without even turning his head to look at her.

"How did you know I was awake?" she asked him, clearly amazed that anyone could tell. Even Harry hadn't noticed until she had sat up, and looked just as bewildered as she did. He chuckled a bit at their amazement for a moment before responding.

"Let's just say that I'm used to having to pay close attention to everything around me. If I couldn't tell the breathing of a sleeping person from that of someone awake, I'd be long dead by now, no doubt about that! Speaking of which, Ron, it's ok to come over here you know. That snoring's so fake it's giving me a headache."

"That's bloody awesome…" Ron said as he sat up bewilderedly, rubbing the back of his head as he stared at Ed.

"So, Harry. What was it you were trying to say before?" Ed asked as he poured himself another cup of coffee and transmuted three more cups for the others, who took them gratefully and poured some for themselves. It was a habit they had picked up on after realizing that they needed to start moving early on in the day, but found that they were too tiered to move without it. Harry took a sip before continuing his train of thought.

"I was about to say that I think it's possible for him to use magic here to do the same thing. He's used it on me more than once before, but I'm not all too sure if it is the same guy or not. What do you think?"

"Well, I for one think that this 'Envy' person is simply imitating Voldemort. After all, having the continence of him would come in handy if you wanted to intimidate others into serving you fully, wouldn't it?" Hermione said, voicing her opinion using as many impressive words as she could think of, testing his intelligence.

"Hmm… I suppose you're right. Personally, I think that he's the same person, though how that happened I'm not sure…" he thought, ignoring Hermione's obvious attempts to try to confuse him with words.

"You mean you actually understood all that?" Ron asked, surprised that someone who's first language wasn't even English.

"Well, yah, but I haven't had to speak English for a long time. Actually, the only reason I learned it in the first place was so I could read some books that were written in this language that I thought might help me with my research. I've been practicing it since I came to Brittan." Ed said off handedly as a breeze came towards him and he caught the unpleasant stench of the three travelers. "when's the last time you three have bathed? It looks as if you've been out here a while. I found a stream not too far from here if you want to go wash up." Ed said as he pointed to a spot slightly behind him. "I think it might be a good idea, as there is a town not too far from here. It's only about a two hour walk from here, and there are some supplies I would like to pick up." He added, trying not to sound too offensive about the washing part.

"Really! There's a stream! That would be great! I haven't had a bath in _days_! Hermione said as she set down her cup of coffee and ran towards the direction Ed had indicated.

"Two hours away? How do you know that?" asked Harry, curious to find out as much about their new traveling companion as possible.

"Walked there. I was up about three hours before you were." This time it was Ron's turn to ask a question.

"But didn't you say it was a two hour walk? If you've only been up for three hours, then how could you have gone there, come back, find the stream, _and_ make the breakfast?"

"Well, I try to keep in shape, so I exercise every day. I do a lot of running, so it really wasn't anything. It only took me about an hour and a half total, so I had a lot of extra time on my hands and decided to look for anything useful that might be around." He said, completely ignoring the shock on their faces that he could take a four hour walk and turn it into a brief hour and a half excursion. _'oh, that's right! I don't have any British money! If I could see some of theirs and learn how it works I can transmute some money for when we go to town…'_ "That reminds me! I don't know what your currency is here, so do you think you could show me your money and teach me how it works? I can do things from there."

Harry was curious as to how Ed would be able to get money if he didn't even know what the system was, but agreed to show him. after taking each bill out and explaining its value to Ed, he asked if he understood or not.

"Yah. I think so." Ed started as he clapped his hands together and made an exact replicate of each bill in turn, reciting from memory exactly what Harry had said and even taking the time to relate it to the currency used in Germany (not wanting to reveal that the currency system he was actually _most_ familiar with didn't even exist in this world) as he went. finally he looked up at Harry asking, "like that, right?"

"Yah, you got it." Harry said to answer him before asking a question he had been silently wondering about since it was brought up. "So, Ed. Earlier you said that you thought that our Voldemort and your Envy were the same person, right? How could that be possible?"

"I'm not quite sure, for more reasons than I'm quite ready to discuss, but the main reason I thought that that might be the case is that he was so familiar with you, Harry. If he were just an imposter I don't think he would know so much about you, as where we both come from, no one even knows who this guy is. This leads to my second reason. How could he impersonate someone so well if he hasn't seen him before? I don't know how he could have done it, but considering he's one of the homunculi, I wouldn't put it past him." He said as Hermione started walking back towards the camp from the stream. Her clothes were now completely clean and dry, as was she. Ed nodded to her in greeting as the two boys went off to take their turns.

"Enjoy your bath?" Ed asked in a conversational tone as he walked over to the fire pit and scattered dirt over it and began to disperse the rocks so it looked as if no one had been there.

"Yah, it's great to be clean again. What are you doing over there?"

"Restoring the site to how it was before. It will make it harder to track us if anyone was following us…… Envy or Voldemort or what ever it is you want to call him……… Not to mention I don't know if the rest of the sins came with him or not. It they did…… well, let's just say things will get even harder for us." he said as he moved the last stone to a spot about four inches away from the closest tree and transmuted all the uneaten food back into the ground, except the extra apples and a cup of coffee for himself.

"I see… so, Ed. How many languages do you know?" she asked, curious because of his earlier comment about research which she was also eager to ask him about.

"Oh, I don't know… maybe, nine? It might be more, but that's all I can think of off hand. I also know a couple different dialects for some of them, but I wouldn't consider them a different language." He said, smirking to himself at how her jaw dropped several inches. "you might want to close your mouth before a fly goes in there. The damn things have been flying in my face all morning!" he said to point it out to her.

"Oh, sorry… what was it you were researching anyway?" she asked, trying to change the subject to one more favorable to her as soon as she could.

"Mostly math, science, and philosophy. Though I studied a bit of history and Geography to incase I had to travel." He said. They talked a bit about where they lived (Ed of course only described his father's house in Germany, not daring to describe any of the things back in Ametris), what books they were into (Hermione was incredibly surprised at his taste of literature, for it was more like her own than she thought it would be), and a few other things until the two boys came back and they walked down to the town.

--------…ohh… pretty scene divider…----------

"Well, here we are! This is the town that I saw this morning… quiet place, don't you think?" Ed said as they drew near the town. '_That's an understatement! There's only four people outside, and I think that they're all asleep!' _Ed thought to himself.

"While we're here we should probably pick up some food and extra clothes. A few backpacks wouldn't be a bad idea either. What do you say we can get started?" Harry suggested, realizing that it would be a good idea if they had to stay somewhere where Ed couldn't transmute food. He didn't want to attract too much attention by using magic either, so they would have to fit in with all the other muggles. The others nodded in agreement and Ed walked off to the first store he saw to try to get it done as fast as possible before he quickly stopped and turned to ask Harry where and when they should meet.

"Right here should be fine. How about we all come back here at... 1:30? Does that sound good to everyone?" they all nodded as an answer then split up to purchase all they needed.

**Ed's POV:**

I just want to get this over with as soon as possible. My watch says it's only 7:13, so that leaves more than enough time. The monetary system here is pretty simple, so at least I don't have to worry about that. Now all I have to do is find a store that isn't still closed! What time do these people sleep till here! 10:30! I just wish Al were here. and Winery. Hell, I even miss that bastard Mustang! Never thought I would live to see that day again! Then again, I didn't exactly plan on being dragged here by that cross-dressing humunculus either. How the hell was I supposed to know that freak would pull me over to this world again! But I do wonder about that… I know for a fact that I didn't call on the gate, so why the hell did it just appear? It was like Envy was controlling it! But how is that possible? It might be because he is the only homunculus that has crossed the gate and come back before (1), but how? That's the part I don't get. The only way I got back last time was because when dad was about to die he gave me all the pieces of the stone he still had, which just happened to be enough to get me back across the gate, and then that palm-tree drags my ass back here! I just hope that I can find a way back to them…

**Harry's POV:**

I wonder if we can trust him. he knows a lot about this Envy person and the other things called homunculi, but I would like to know how he knows so much. Not to mention the fact that it seems he had it hard before. He can even tell the difference between a person who is awake and lying still and a person who is actually asleep! Not to mention he is an alchemist. I thought that the only ones that were left were Flamell and Dumbledore. If he were here I know that he would have known what to do. The old man, I just hope that were ever he is now it's a better place than this hell hole…

**Ron's POV:**

That new kid sure seems to know a lot, but it feels like he's hiding something. And how did he get that arm! I've never seen anything like it! And the guy actually understood Hermione when she was going on using all those big words! And this isn't even his first language! I wonder how many he knows…

**Hermione's POV:**

Just who is he anyway? I have a feeling that he's not really from Germany. And how could he possibly know that many different languages! And when I asked him what he was doing research on, he wouldn't answer me straight. I know there is something he's hiding. Not to mention that yesterday he was saying that he needed the stone to get home. How could a stone that provides immortality and can turn led to gold help someone get home? It doesn't seem like something he wants to talk about though. What kind of things could he have possibly gone through to make him this skilled at covering his tracks?

_**TO BE CONTINUED…**_

(1): yes, I know that that didn't happen in the anime, but hey, this is a fan fic, so my twisted version of reality is what this fic will go by!

A/N: so, there's chapter 2! Did ya like it? Is it still unique? I hope it is! I have a couple plot twisties in my brain right now, so don't worry about it getting boring!

Ed: HOW COME YOU CAN NEVER HAVE ME IN MY OWN DAMN WORLD IN ANY OF YOUR TWISTED IDEAS OF STORIES?

Me: well that's obvious! I find tormenting you fun!

Ed: you're evil…

Me: I know! Isn't it great! And for anyone out there reading my other fma x-over fic, I'M SORRY! I've been having major writers block with that one and though I try, I just haven't made much progress with the next chappie. Not to mention the piles of homework I have (I really don't like school….) so please don't make me feel too guilty about updating this first, and give me a review to make me feel less evil…

Ed: BUT YOU ARE EVIL!

Me: that may be so, but I still have a conscious! And I think it might be a little upset at me too…. So please review and make me happy! Please? Someone?


	3. Suspicions

Ok, here is chapter 3! I had no idea I would get such an awesome response with this fic! It's gotten more than I thought there would be! You people make me feel so loved! And as a little warning to all you readers who are against drinking, there is a bit of that here. No drunkenness, but drinking. If you don't like it, just pretend that it's not alcohol, but flavored water. And Ed talks in German a bit, but the translation is down at the bottom… and that's all I can think of to tell ya at this point…… Ok, enough with the obnoxious rambling… here I go!

A/N added much later: It's been brought to my attention by both my Beta and many reviewers that these first several chapters (I think till around chapter 15) are (they all put it more nicely than this... well, ok, everyone but my Beta, who started fixing things at chapter 15ish) crap. Lots of spelling errors and my unfortunately feeble writing style from a few years ago when I started this. Needless to say, this must be fixed. As it stands there is but one chapter left of this fic, and once it is completed and posted I'll go back and fix these error-ridden chapters. Please stick with me! Also, thanks to LionsChild who is awesome and fixed my German in this chapter.

Disclaimer: I OWN ALL OF THIS! AHH! THE LAWYERS! GET AWAY! GET AWAY! I CONFESS! I OWN NOTHING! NOTHING I TELL YOU! –runs away in fear-

Last chapter: the group discusses ideas about who Envy/ Voldy is ( in other words, is he the same guy, or 2 and so on and so forth), they go to a town and split up to get supplies.

Chapter 3: Suspicions…

Just as had been promised, the three x-Hogwarts students all met up at the appointed place at 1:30, finding a note from Ed saying that he was in a place called the Betrunkene Leute (1) and that he would wait for them there. The three exchanged questioning glances before Harry shrugged his shoulders.

"Well, we'd better go find him. Come on, I think I saw a place with that name over that way," he said, gesturing towards one of the side roads ahead of them.

"Careful Harry… this could be a trap. We don't know him very well yet, so we should be careful." Hermione said looking worriedly upon Harry in a mix of fear and sadness. Fear for his safety, and sadness for the fact that they even had to worry about it at all at their age.

"I don't think we have to worry too much about Ed. After all, we have the same enemy, and you can never be safer with anyone than you can be with one whom shares the same common enemy, and same goal. We both hate Voldemort, or Envy as he called him, and we both want to see him dead. Besides, I think he genuinely wants to help us." Harry looked at the skeptical looks he was receiving from his two best friends. They had been there for him all this time and only wanted to help him. He knew this, but sometimes he couldn't help but wonder if they truly trusted his judgment or simply followed him because they were so close. They were loyal, but did they really trust him? With Ed he seemed to share a common bond, and more than just someone else who hated Voldemort. They had both seen their shares of trouble. "Oh, come on guys! If he really wanted to hurt us he could have done it last night while we were all asleep! Besides, anyone in their right state of mind wouldn't do anything bad in a public place! Now come off it and let's go, ok?" He said as he walled off in the direction of the building.

"Come on Ron, we should be there incase anything does happen. I still don't think I trust Ed that much…"

"Me nether. I don't know, maybe it's the way he takes death and danger so lightly… It's kinda creepy…" Ron replied as he followed Hermione who had started off towards the road that Harry had taken.

They soon came to a building with a wooden sign hanging on a black metal bar sticking out of an old, water stained brick building. The sign itself seemed almost as old as the building, the wood faded and the painted letters starting to peal off. The words read (though they were hardly legible beneath the large amount of bird shit that had gathered on it from all the birds that chose to sit on top of the sign) Betrunkene Leute.

"This is it. Come on, lets go." Harry said once his two friends rounded the corner to see him leaning on the wall next to the door, clearly waiting for them to catch up. He pushed open the door which creaked slightly and showed some resistance as he pushed his way in the dimly lit room. The first thing he noticed was that it was a bar, and the second thing he noticed was Ed sitting at the bar holding a glass and talking in a foreign language to the bar tender.

"Hey Ed," Harry said, causing the blond to turn around and say to the bar tender.

"Warte kurz, Frank," Ed said to the man.

"Ich gehe nirgendwo hin, Edward," (2) He replied with a nod of his head and walking over to another man at the end of the bar yelling rather drunkenly for some service.

"Hey guys. Sorry I wasn't at the meeting place, I just really needed a drink. I've had a very… interesting week…" Ed said, smiling wearily and holding up a glass with an amber colored substance before taking a sip.

"How did you get that drink? And why are you here?"

"Who, Frank? Oh, well we're both from Germany apparently, so we were just talking about it. As for how I got this drink," Ed said as he set the glass down on the bar, "where I come from I've been a legal adult since I was 12, so all I had to do was show my papers saying that I'm not a minor." Ed said, smirking inwardly at the hidden clues that he had just given them. '_Technically in Germany, even though you could drink at any age, you couldn't become a legal adult until you were 18, not 12. but considering I became a dog of the military then, you can't exactly consider a military officer a kid, now can you? Huh… let's just see how long it takes them to figure that out. Though I have to admit it was a good idea transmuting those false birth certificates when I came to this side of the gate. God I needed a drink…'_ "Don't worry, it's just whiskey." He said as he finished his glass. "And not even that strong of whisky either. I'm fine." He said to them before turning to Frank, the bar tender and saying in germen, "Hey Frank, könnte ich noch zwei Flaschen hiervon für unterwegs haben? Oh, und die Rechnung. Wie viel schulde ich dir?" He said with out pause. Frank turned and handed Ed a bill and two additional bottles of whiskey. Ed pulled out some money and set it on the table, picked up the bottles, and turned to leave, gesturing a wave with one bottle-filled hand. "Danke, Frank!" (3)

"Danke." Frank replied to his customer's retreating back. The trio stood still for a moment, getting over their shock of seeing Ed drinking, and even taking some with him. Ron was the first to get over it.

"Come on, lets go. No point in stickin around here." He said as he stepped out the door with no intention of letting Ed get out of his sight. Hermione and Harry followed him only to find Ed waiting right outside around the corner for them, all his purchases placed neatly in a black backpack, the tops of the two bottles sticking out only slightly from the top. Harry wondered to himself where the pack had been just a moment ago but decided not to ask.

"so, I guess that means we should head towards Kent now, huh?" Harry said, opting to continue the journey and ask questions once they got out of the town. Besides, now that Voldemort, or Envy, or whoever he was, had returned, there were probably a few death eaters here anyway, and he did not want to have to worry about having it reveled who he was. His hair had grown quite a bit since they had left, as had the others. There had been no reason to bother going to a hairdressers to get it cut, and besides, he thought, it worked as a suitable disguise because it served to cover his scar and shadow his eyes if he looked down slightly. This eliminated the need to take his animagus form of a dog. He had taken after his godfather, Serious, in that point. Not to mention he found it much easier to walk around freely in any town or city in his dog form, which had a small scar above one of its dark hazel brown eyes, a mark Harry had tried to remove from the dog completely but had only managed to change its shape into a straight, slightly jagged line. The trio had taken it upon themselves to become unregistered animagus' for the purpose of being able to disguise themselves if need be. Hermione had taken the form of an owl so that she could fly ahead and check surrounding areas and see in the night to keep lookout. Ron had chosen to take the form of a hawk red tailed hawk so he could see just as well in the day as Hermione could at night.

"yah, I guess so. You wanna go through the forest again, Harry? Or should we just take a bus there?" Ron asked Harry, hoping that the second option would be considered. They had been walking for several days, and the trip would only be about an hour and a half in a city buss, where as it would take about five hours on foot, which both he and Hermione would prefer to avoid.

"well, I guess we could take the bus for a while, but if we take it the whole way any death eaters that are watching us would know exactly where we were going and tell Voldemort, which as we all know would not be the best thing right now. Especially because we don't know what he's capable of."

"we can get off at the fourth stop. That would drop us off about eight miles to the west of Kent and actually a bit closer to another small town. That would serve as a good cover. Then we can hang around there for a while and when it starts to get darker we can leave. No one would expect someone to leave so close to night, you would have to be crazy to walk all the way to Kent in the wilderness, during the night no less." Ed said, showing his masterful ability to come up with sneaky plans.

"If you would have to be crazy to walk eight miles to Kent in the dark, wouldn't that mean it's a pretty good idea not to? Besides, how did you know about that anyway?" Hermione asked suspiciously.

"To answer your first question, it won't actually be that dangerous. I am assuming that with a powerful enemy like Envy you three aren't easily taken down, or else you would all be dead and rotting somewhere, impaled through the chest." He said, remembering his own death by the hands of Envy, and not exactly enjoying them. "So considering that you're not, that means you can take on most anything thrown at you, both literally and metaphorically. And as for the second question, I considered this option before while I was waiting for you and got a bus schedule from Frank. A 'tourist' can get a lot of help from people in these small towns. By the way, the bus fee is one pound per person. Not bad, is it?"

"for someone so short you sure do think out all your options, don't you Ed?" Harry asked, smiling slightly at the new group member and chuckling slightly at the joke. Ed however was far from laughing.

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING SO SMALL HE HAS TO USE AN ELEVATOR TO GET UP A CURB!" Ed shouted loudly, shaking a fist but using all the will power he had not to go and attack Harry and drawing a few curious look from other people around him. That would defiantly NOT help him in getting them to trust him, but they had called him short!

"Hey, hey, I never said any of that!" Harry said putting up his hands defensively but for the life of him he couldn't help but laugh a bit at Ed's outburst. The other two were laughing to. It was just so funny to see a small bean-sprout midget (Ed: I AM NOT A BEAN-SPROUT MIDGET!) throwing a temper tantrum in his almost gothic type clothes. After Harry calmed down a bit he said to Ed, "That's a good idea though, I must admit. Besides, we can catch up on a bit of sleep on the bus. It would be nice to sleep somewhere without worrying about what might come at you. None the less, someone should still stay up incase there's an attack and also to wake everyone else up once we get to the stop."

"I'll do it. I never could sleep on a bus again since last time when it ended up being hijacked and I ended up… well, I'm not gunna go into detail, let's just say it wasn't a good place for me to be. I just don't trust random people like that anymore. Hell, I don't even trust most any one I know like that! If Mustang saw me sleeping, no matter where it was, even in my own room for god's sake! He would roast me alive!" Ed said, trying to act pissed even though he was actually starting to miss the bastard General (5).

"Heh, sounds like a nice guy!" Harry said sarcastically, already starting to feel a bond with this stranger who he knew so little about but had so much in common with.

"You have no idea… well, the buss will be arriving soon, so we goin now or what?" It was more of an order than a question and the group started following Ed to the bus stop.

The stop itself was in front of a small used book shop with a window display of some of the newest released books and a few used collage text books on sale.

"Hey Harry, I'm going to take a look inside that store for a few minutes. I haven't really had time to read for a while, and it might just help us figure out if something else about Envy. It might even have something to help me get home, though I doubt it." Ed said as Harry looked at him skeptically, wondering why it was so hard for Ed to find a way home. _'for someone so smart, you would think he would have figured out how to use a map by now. How complicated could it be?'_ he thought. Ed seemed to read his mind.

"Don't ask. I will tell you when I think it is important, but right now that matter is mine and mine alone. Don't expect any answers about it. I'll be back before the bus comes. It should be here in another ten minutes or so, so I should be fine."

"Actually, Ed, I wanted to go in the store too. Mind if I come with you?" Hermione piped up. Though she honestly did want to go into the store _'it has books! I haven't been in a library for I don't know how long! How I miss the smell of the ink, the sound of a crisply turning page……' _she thought to herself in a almost psychotically obsessive manner; but she also wanted to keep an eye on Ed. She could tell Harry trusted him, but she still wasn't sure.

"sure. I thought you might want to come. As the saying goes, keep your friends close, and your enemy's closer. I wouldn't expect anything else from you." He said, smiling to himself in satisfaction at the stunned look on her face.

"How did you know that's what I was doing? Never mind, don't answer that. Come on, let's go. I honestly do have a ton of reading to catch up on." She said, pushing the painted purple door in so a bell on the inside tinkled as she crossed over the threshold into the cooled, well lit room.

**With Harry and Ron:**

The two boys sat outside in a slightly awkward silence before Ron spoke up, trying to lighten the mood.

"I wonder how the most recent quiditch match played out? It was Poland vs. Australia! I haven't played quiditch for a long time."

"Yah, I know what you mean! Remember that last game we played against Slytheren? We got em good! Ha! The look on Malfoy's face when I grabbed that snitch right in front of his face! The idiot didn't even notice it!" Harry said, a chuckle evident in his voice before his face became framed wit guilt and pain all over again as he remembered it had been Malfoy who had been inches from killing Dumbledore himself. That is until Snape stepped in and killed the wizard himself. This memory had plagued Harry every day since the day it happened. He had been frozen under the invisibility cloak by the kind man himself, unable to help him in any way. Snape. The face of that trader made Harry almost more angry than he became when he read another muggle news article about a 'mysterious death, causes unknown.' _'unknown my ass.' _He silently thought to himself, each time knowing it had been Voldemort or one of his followers. Voldemort and Snape. The only two people in the world who could ever manage to truly enrage the burdened teen.

Ron noticed the change that had come over his best friend and instantly knew what he was thinking about.

"Come on, mate. It wasn't your fault. You know it." Ron said, shaking Harry lightly on the shoulder.

'_Easy for you to say. You weren't there'_ He thought to himself, but rather than tell Ron that, knowing that Ron had been more than a little occupied with the death eaters that were attacking as well, he simply asked if Ron could fly around and check if it was safe there or not. Ron took the hint and walked off to a side ally that seemed abandon and empty. A few moments later a large hawk with a rust-red tail, white breast, and pitch black wings, and piercingly dark eyes flew gracefully out of the ally and landed next to Harry for a moment, both sets of eyes meeting brown for only a split second before the bird took to the skies to circle the town a few times. Harry watched the flight progress in a sort of unattached way, not really taking in a thing and lost completely in thoughts and bad memories.

**With Hermione and Ed (isn't he great? XD )**

"I still don't trust you, ya know." Hermione whispered quietly to Ed as he moved along a shelf of used science textbooks, pausing at a few that looked like they specialized in unbelievable theories. Hermione wondered at this slightly, but made no mention of it as she peered at some of these books as well, keeping a few that she was interested in buying. She could always shrink them later to fit in her backpack.

"I may not be from London like you are, but I'm not a blind idiot. I can tell you don't trust me yet, and I don't expect you to fully do so until I tell you everything…" He said pausing for a moment to stare into her eyes, the strength of the stare made her want to turn away, but she refused to show weakness, so she met the stare as he continued, "But to be frank with you, I don't trust you much either. Why should I tell you all about my past if you still won't even tell me why you're going on this wild goose chase?" He said, turning away to make sure his eyes wouldn't betray him. _'That should get her. she seems to be an organized, purposeful girl. If anything will get her to talk it will be making her mission seem like a pointless scavenger hunt. She won't like that… ha, this is great!' _"Furthermore, if anything you should at least trust me a bit yourself as I saved your ass from Envy. I'm sure your so called 'magic' is great and all, but to be honest I really don't think it could do much damage to a creature that's only a hairsbreadth away from immortal. Not to mention it seems that Harry out there is the only one who might be able to fight him at all." Ed finished, smirking to himself. Adding insult to injury would be exactly what he needed to get this girl to tell him something. It might not happen right away, but after those words repeated in her mind for a while she just might tell him something. Maybe not even anything important, but something was better than nothing, right?

"As a matter of fact, we could have stood up to Voldemort with out your help. It's not the first time we've crossed paths." Hermione shot back, hissing at Ed. This is exactly what he was hoping for, at least it was a start.

"Don't think I can't tell a half truth when I hear one. Let me see if I can translate this correctly, you three have always been close and have tried hard, but Harry's the only one of you who's ever actually fought him before, right?"

"that may be true, but we were the ones who fought all of the Death Eaters that attacked!"

"So Envy has others working under him. good to know. Now we might want to go purchase these books soon. The bus should arrive in about two minutes." Ed said in a calm, satisfied tone as he walked off to the register to buy two books that he had picked out. one was on myths and legends of the scientific world, and another was a small history book that covered unexplained disappearances of various different people. Most of it was just myths of alien abductions, but he supposed that there might be a clue about the gate in it as well. He also picked out a news paper that was headlining an article about some art show being held that week. It had a couple pictures of colorful framed paintings with varying subjects. He didn't care much about that, but wanted to check into the recent events. Besides, he still did not know much about the culture there, and after all, what better way to understand the culture of a people than to immerse yourself in the topics of news that interested them most? Hermione followed him with a few books of her own, glaring cautiously at his back, subconsciously wondering what the sign on his shirt meant, but mostly just pouting because he had so easily managed to coerce some information from her. Unimportant as it was, it was still something, and she didn't like that.

(1): I felt like being weird, so I went to freetranslation (dot) com and translated "Drunk People" into germen, and that is the name of the… place… (incase you are reading this before you finish the chappie! I don't want to ruin it for you!)

(2): that all translates to, "Hold on a second, Frank." "I'm not going anywhere, Edward."

(3): and that all basically translates to (I forgot the exact thing I put into the translator) Hey Frank, could I get two more bottles of this for the road? Oh, and the check. How much do I owe you?" then Frank hands him the check, etc, etc, "thank you" "thank you."

(5): I am having Roy being re-instated into the military and promoted to General. Partly because I think he deserves it, partly because I can't spell his other title! Lol… but hey, that's a good reason, right?

Ed: OO you're crazy…

Me: thank you!

Ed: -sweat drop-

A/N: well, there you have it! Chapter three, hot off the… word document? Well, anyway, there it is! –points to chapter- it was going to be longer because I actually had several ideas on how to continue this, and was pretty excited about it, but it was starting to get really long, so I had to cut it short… TT… but I'm gunna start on the next chappie as soon as I post this, so at least I won't forget my idea! Lol… well, please review! the reviews make me write faster, I swear! They even give me a couple good ideas on what to do! silver windflame is the only reason that Ed is called short in here. I almost forgot! Thanks! (Ed: must you torment me so, you evil people?) And I also got a couple really good ideas out of Hedwig the MillenniumOwl. It took me a while to find a good bird for Ron to change into, as I do not know any native hawks in Britain. For a while I just had "Ron, the (insert type of falcon/hawk here) flew off towards the city lights and hit a flag pole" only maybe minus the part about the flag pole. I just put that in there cuz I felt like it.

Ron: you really are evil, aren't you?

Ed: I told you so!

Me: don't make me put you both in dresses doing very unmanly things! I will do it!

Both: you're crazy! –both run away in fear-

Harry and Hermione: -laughing at the two running around like mad men who have lost a few too many brain cells-

Me: now review! please?


	4. Unwanted memories

Ok, here is the next chappie, as promised! I've been planning this one for a while, and I'm so happy cuz I finally got around to writing it! Yeay! Part of this is a song fic, but don't skip over the song BECAUSE IT'S IMPORTANT! Or at least in my opinion it is… oh, and there's a bit of Winery/Ed in this, but not much.

Disclaimer: This song is Kenny Rogers, and it is called I Can't Unlove you. I do not own it, nor do I own FMA or HP. If I did, neither one would follow any coherent pattern. Is that so bad?

Ed: yes, yes it is.

Me: XP

Last chappie: Ed is found in a bar, and buys a couple bottles of whiskey. A plan is formed on how to get to Kent without worrying too much about being followed. Ed and Hermione go into the book store while Harry and Ron wait for the bus. Ummm…. Yah, that's about it…

Chapter 4: Unwanted Memories…

Ed and Hermione walked out of the book store at about the same time as Ron came walking out from a side ally, all of them meeting up at the bus stop where Harry sat, semi-long black hair falling over his face, which was turned down staring at some apparently interesting spot between his feet. Ed knew this pose well, for he had taken it up more than once, only to be snapped out of it by a "short" comment (which usually ended up with someone getting hurt, and it wasn't Ed…) or words of concern from Al. Ed decided to leave him alone to finish thinking over whatever it was and not bother him about it later. He would tell him if he wanted to, which Ed doubted he did.

"Hey Harry, you ok?" Ron asked as he walked over to his friend, both worry and a touch of guilt showing in his eyes. Harry recovered quickly, even managing to bring a false smile to his cracked lips.

"Yah Ron, I'm fine. Just a little tiered, that's all." The words sounded true enough, but he wasn't fooling anyone. "Hey Ron, how much longer till the train gets here?" He asked, trying to change topics. Ron looked at him incredulously for a moment, but answered none the less, recognizing the obvious attempts.

"Just 'bout a minute now. It should be here pretty soon. I'm lookin forward to getting some decent sleep, no matter where it is."

"Not me! Look at these books I found! This is gong to be great!" Hermione said in honest passion.

"Huh, I'm sure you'll have a great time bonding." Ed said with a smirk, which was received by a glare from Hermione, and small snickers from Ron and even Harry. He had never met someone so passionate about books before. Even though he read a lot to do necessary research about the stone, and more recently how to get through the gate without being impaled… he had never really been a fanatic. Well, he supposed there was Scieszka… ok, so Hermione was the SECOND most book obsessed person he had ever met, but that was still saying something. He vaguely wondered how she was doing, but shook himself out of it because he knew that would lead to another, much more depressing train of thoughts that he didn't want to think about. Not now.

"Hey look, the bus is just coming over the hill." Ed said pointing to a large shape in the distance that was growing larger every second. Sure enough, a somewhat small, but well kept buss pulled up in font of the small group, opening its doors swiftly for them to enter. They picked up their things they had purchased and walked up the steep steps and took their seats towards the middle, mostly because Ed insisted that he didn't want to be stuck in the back, nor did he want to be too close to the front. Knowing that, for what ever strange reason it might be, Ed was more aware of the things that could go wrong than they did, the trio had obliged.

About a half hour later Hermione's fervent wish to read her books had failed, as she was now breathing evenly, leaning on Ron's shoulder, who in turn was resting his head on the window, and actually snoring, though not very loudly (thankfully! XD ). Harry, however, was still awake, as was Ed who kept his word as his eyes flickered watchfully around the otherwise empty bus. Harry decided to ask a question that had been on his mind ever since they had met up with Ed in the bar.

"Hey, Ed?"

"Huh? What is it Harry?"

"You know back in the bar? You never really answered our question about why you were there. Mind explaining now?" He asked, causing Ed go still momentarily and for a moment, so fast that Harry wasn't even sure if he had seen it at all, paled slightly before answering the question.

"I've……I've done things… and seen things…… that I really want to forget. I know… I know that I will never be able to completely forget any of it, no matter how much I want to. After a while it's just too much to bear, and I need a little help shifting the load. It's a job that only my brother and Winery could ever do, and now they… they're back at home, so I need the next best thing. Like I said, I can never forget what I've seen and done, lived through and caused, but the whiskey helps me accept it. If I can't do that, then I become distracted. The memories get in my way of staying alert, and I can't afford that. Never have. I can tell that you have bad memories too, but your friends are always there to help you shoulder the load. Consider yourself lucky." Ed said, avoiding eye contact with Harry, silently hoping that he understood, yet also hoping he didn't ask any deeper into the subject. He really didn't want to go into detail. The memories were still so fresh. It was like a wound that had just started healing under the gentle care of the whiskey, but being broken open again at the reminder. He knew it was unintentional, but it still hurt.

"Yah, I guess I am." Harry said, and left it at that. They both had memories they wished to forget, and all of those memories had come rushing back as the two finished the ride in silence.

---------- pretty scene divider ----------

The group had been in the small town that the bus had dropped them off at for several hours. There really hadn't been much to do. They had rented two hotel rooms for one night, but one night only for the soul intention of making it seem like they intended to stay the night, which they wouldn't. They had all taken naps, though one person stayed up at all times for safety reasons. After they had all rested up they headed into town to wonder the museums, shops, book stores, and in Ed's case, a bar. The group all met up again at their rooms at around nine and went into their respective rooms with a promise to meet back up at around two in the morning so they could leave and start their way over to Kent. They occupied them selves variously (Hermione and Ed reading the books they had bought and Ron and Harry watching _Robin Hood, Men in Tights_ which was playing on TV before resigning to a game of muggle chess with the board they had found in the room) until the time came to leave. As agreed, they all met in the hall and silently made their way to the forest that laid between that town and Kent. As soon as they walked out of the building Hermione paused in the silent walk. Ed watched in disbelief as her legs grew shorter and her arms began to draw in closer to her body, which also started to get smaller and smaller, feathers appearing along every inch of exposed skin. He was even more surprised when she seemed to disappear all together until Harry picked up the clothes she had once inhabited and a dark brown owl with amber eyes sat staring at him before taking a few steps and flying away.

"What the hell just happened?" Ed asked, whispering harshly, not wanting to yell incase it woke some of the occupants or attracted any unwanted attention to themselves.

"She just took her animagus form. A barn owl. She's probably going to check to make sure the way is safe. Don't worry. She'll meet up with us along the path at some point." Harry said, staring at the retreating form of the owl-girl.

"Is this some kind of your 'magic' you were talking about?" He asked as they continued up the path, thoughts rushing through his mind like a hurricane. _'how is this possible? That went against every law of nature there is! How can a person turn into an owl? And on free will? She can't be a chimera. If that was the cases she couldn't chose which form she wanted. She can't be a homunculi either, because she clearly has a soul of her own. What is this? How come in our world we have to suffer so much for making a miscalculation or a slight mistake in a transmutation, but she can do this without even a circle! What is this? How is this possible?'_

"yah. We all chose an animal form to change to incase we needed to get away. Besides, because both Hermione and Ron picked animals that can fly and see well, their forms come in handy whenever we need to scout ahead, nomater weather it's night or day. Quite useful, really. Is there something wrong, Ed? You look kind of shocked." Harry said with slight concern for the blond.

"No, it's just that in my… home town… people can't do that. Or at least not if they want to ever become human again." He said, thinking of Nina.

"Hmm…" Harry said, starting to wonder more about where Ed came from. He knew for a fact that Alchemy was a science that no one in either world, both magical or muggle, had managed to actually perfect. Not even Dumbledore had managed to perfect it. Then there was the whole thing about needing to find a way to get home. With Ed's ability to simply transmute money as he needed it, there was really no reason for him to not just take a taxi or a train or something. Not to mention the fact that he seemed to know so much about warfare and evading notice. He couldn't help but wonder what the blond had been involved in before they had met.

The trio was only a few feet from the forest as an owl that Ed assumed to be Hermione dropped down in front of them. Harry followed the bird behind a tree, placing the clothes down by the tree and walking back to the other two boys to wait for her to get dressed. A few moments later a pale arm stretched out and grabbed the clothes that had been put down next to the thick trunk of the tall tree, the white of the flesh catching some of the beams of light the moon cast down on her. Ed stood quietly trying to reorganize his thoughts about the strange thing he had just seen. Harry just stood waiting for her to finish dressing as Ron impatiently told her to hurry up.

"Oh, come off it Ron! I didn't take that long!" said an exasperated Hermione as she stepped out from behind the tree, once again fully dressed, before turning to Harry. "No one else seems to be awake now. The streets and alleyways were all empty, and there weren't any lights coming from any of the houses or stores. The forest itself seems ok, and there's a clearing about five minutes in. we can set up camp there and put up some don't notice me spells so that we can light a fire without attracting any unwanted attention."

"Good job, 'mione. That'll be a good place to spend the rest of the night. We can continue on our way to Kent in the morning. I'll just use some wind to cover up our tracks and we'll be ok." Harry said, pulling out what Ed thought was a stick from his coat pocket (1).

"Why the hell are you carrying a stick around with you?" Ed asked, looking at Harry like he had just grown an extra head.

"It's my wand. It's what wizards and witches use to do magic." Harry explained, knowing already that Ed wasn't going to believe him. "Ventus"(2) Harry said, as a pale blue wisp of air streamed out from the wand tip, blowing across the dirt path they had just walked over, erasing the footprints with a slight wooshing sound before the air dissipated into nothingness and Harry put the wand back in his pocket. Ed just stared in shock at what had just happened.

"I've gotta learn some of this magic stuff. It sure does look like it can come in handy!" Ed said, slowly shaking his head in amazement, trying to bring himself to believe what he had just seen.

"I'll see what I can do." Harry said a smile playing on his face.

-------- this is a pretty scene divider----------

"I wonder where Ed's gone." Harry sad. It was more of a question than a statement, because he realy did wonder. Ed had gone off on his own as soon as a fire had been started and everyone had set up camp for the night. He had been going off on his own a lot, Harry noticed. And after the conversation they had had on they bus (if it could truly be called a conversation that is) he was also somewhat worried.

"he went somewhere over there. That guys too solitary, ya know? Its kinda creepy, it is. Hey Harry, where ya goin?" Asked Ron, as Harry was already walking of in the direction that Ron had indicated.

"I'm going to find Ed. I have a few questions for him." _'I think we might have more alike than I thought. I need to check if my suspicions are true.'_ Harry added to himself as he walked out of the circle of light that the fire cast around the open area they had settled in.

"Just yell if ya need any help mate!" Ron yelled at Harry's disappearing form. "Why does he bother with that kid? It makes ya wonder…" He said, thinking aloud to Hermione who nodded in agreement.

When Harry found him, Ed was leaning against a tall, charred looking tree. Harry vaguely wondered what had happed to it, as it seemed to be the only affected one in the area, but didn't dwell on it. He noticed that Ed's long, blond hair was out of the braid, reflecting the moonlight as light breezes picked it up from time to time, giving it a life of its own. The automail arm was uncovered, long sleeve shirt tossed haphazardly off to the side. He must not have noticed Harry there, as he started to sing with a far away look present in his eyes, clouding them over in what appeared to be a mixture of pain and longing.

**Ed's POV:**

The words of a song I herd once, though I couldn't quite place where, came rushing to me, accompanied by an overwhelming flow of memories that consumed my whole being in the way that it only does when I feel truly alone, times like now. I closed my eyes as the words fell out of my mouth.

Postcards and letters  
And pictures made to last forever  
To be boxed up and tossed away  
Knickknacks and souvenirs  
In an afternoon, they're out of here  
They'll disappear without a trace  
But what they mean to me  
Can never be replaced

_My hands slid down to my pocket, removing a tattered, slightly bent picture of me, Al, and Winery as kids as I continued to sing the words that seemed to fit so well with these memories…_

I can't unthink about you  
I can't unfeel your touch  
I can't unhear all the words  
Unsay all the things  
That used to mean so much  
I wish I could unremember  
Everything my heart's been through  
I'm finding out it's impossible to do  
Oh, it's no use  
I can't unlove you

_Al…_

Interstates and old songs  
Like time they go on and on  
I guess I could learn to do the same  
I could wake up without you  
These two arms not around you  
Tell myself it's meant to be this way  
No matter how I try I can't change

_Winery…_

I can't unthink about you  
I can't unfeel your touch  
I can't unhear all the words  
Unsay all the things  
That used to mean so much  
I wish I could unremember  
Everything my heart's been through  
I'm finding out it's impossible to do  
Oh, it's no use  
I can't unlove you

I wish I could unremember  
Everything my heart's been through  
And finding out it's impossible to do  
Oh, oh, it's no use  
I can't unlove you…

**Regular POV:**

Ed stopped singing, the last notes still hanging hauntingly in the air after Ed's strong, clear voice ceased the song, staring longingly at the picture he had withdrawn.

"God, I miss them…" he said as he sighed audibly, looking up at the moon as its silvery light reflected in his golden eyes. He stayed like that for a moment before he reached out with his automail arm towards a bottle of whiskey at his side, metal clinking on glass. The noise seemed to snap him out of his revere as he looked down at his metallic hand. "The sin that keeps me going. Huh. I'm one tough survivor, aren't I? carrying around my guilty motivation with me wherever I go, using it like it's a part of who I am and always has been. In a way, I guess it is though. My life started when I got it. If you can call this a life anyway. God," he said, bringing the bottle to his lips, amber liquid sloshing in its glass container. "Look at what I've become! A lousy murderer who can't even hold his own. The careless person who led the only people he actually cared about into the worst possible things. A tin of armor and a soulless body. Then I go try to make things better by joining the god damn military thinking that it would make things easier, and all it did was get me to be enemy number one on the lists of every fucking psychopath in Ametris! And now I'm on this side of the gate again, with no current means of getting back. And, to top it all off, that walking palm tree is over here with me! I'm almost _glad_ A; and Winery aren't here to see me like this. I just hope there ok, back at… back at home." Ed said, looking down at the bottle in his hand. He just have noticed Harry standing at the other side of the small clearing he was in when he looked down, as he picked his head up slightly, blond hair falling over his face at the movement, but Harry knew he was looking directly at him.

"How long have you been there?" He asked, strangely resigned.

"Long enough. So. What's this gate thing, and where is Amitris."

"You don't beat around the bush, do you?" he asked, pushing his hair out of his face with his free hand. "Well, I suppose that's a good thing. But since you got to stand here while I thought I was by myself, and basically got to hear me wallow in self pity, how bout you answer some of my questions first?" he said, the undertones of depression still thickly clear in Ed's voice.

"It's… It's hard to talk about."

"I didn't expect it would be easy." Ed said pointedly, "But neither is what I just unintentionally told you, so it seems like an even trade. Here," He said, transmuting a glass before pouring some of the whiskey into it and holding it out to Harry, "It helps. True enough, it may be a bad habit, but when it comes to confronting unwanted memories like these, it sure as hell comes in handy." He said. Harry stared at the offering for a moment or two before extending his own hand and excepting it from Edward and sitting down to his left, leaning against the burnt bark of the old tree and taking a gulp of the drink. It burned slightly as it went down his throat, but it was a welcome sensation, opening up the hundreds of walls he had put up around the memories, not wanting to relive them, but only making it that much worse when he did. This time, the memories came freely, almost as if he had been watching them all from someone else's eyes. He sighed. "I don't know where to begin."

"Then start at where it began." Ed said encouragingly, still depressed from the memories rushing freely through his own mind, but pushing them out of the way slightly so he could concentrate on this new story he would soon be hearing, and reliving along the raven haired teen.

"Well, I guess that would be the easiest way to go, wouldn't it?" Harry said, before delving into a verbal version of the memories that played in his mind, starting with the home, no house, he had occupied with the Dursleys for so many years of his life, reliving all the events at Hogwarts the previous years, complete with the feelings of fear and dread he had felt each time he knew one of his friends were in danger, continuing on to the grief he had felt watching Dumbledore die at the hands of the man he had trusted so much. By the time he was done, the glass that was once full with the whiskey was almost completely empty, so Ed poured more for the teen.

"You're right. That would be hard to relive. I guess it's my turn now, huh?" he said, meeting Harry's eyes for a moment before he started his own story, starting the day his mom died, and not stopping until he got to the day they had met each other. "So now you know why it's so hard for me to get back home. It's not a matter easily solved, is it? And by now you should also know a little more about Envy. I don't know about you, but personally I'm not quite ready to go back and immerse myself in a pleasant conversation with those two back at the camp. It's just too weird. I feel as if I just don't belong in that kind of happy situation, ya know?"

"Yah, I do. They're great people, and I don't know what I would do without them. Probably just go around sulking all the time or trying to commit suicide, but … they… they just don't know what it's like, and I know they try, but it's impossible to understand, to truly know what it's like. Sometimes…" Harry said, trailing off a moment to take another swallow of the whiskey he had come to lean on just like Ed had, "sometimes I feel like I just can't talk to them, like I'm not worthy to be around people so happy. It's strange, but… I don't know, its just that sometimes I _need_ to be alone, just to have time to think things over and not pretend to be so strong. Just let it all go every now and then. I guess that's why you like to be by yourself so much, isn't it? Just to have time to remember."

"A man named Eric Hoffer once said, 'The remarkable thing is that we really love our neighbor as ourselves: we do unto others as we do unto ourselves. We hate others then we hate ourselves. We are tolerant toward others when we tolerate ourselves. We forgive others when we forgive ourselves. We are prone to sacrifice others when we are ready to sacrifice ourselves.' How true that is. I've had so many of those times, I've lost count. It seems like after Serious died, you did the same thing I did with Al. take your grief out on your friends. I found out the only way I could avoid that, at least most of the time, is getting away from him for a while. I can't hurt anyone if there's no one around to hurt." He said, looking at Harry as he took another drink from the glass Ed had transmuted for him.

"Ya know, I think you're right." Harry said, meeting his gaze. "Being around them so much sometimes just, I don't know. I just need some time to think. We are both marked by our dark pasts, and though we try our best to change it, there is precious little we can do. We are slaves to fate (3)."

"Hmm…" Ed said, drinking the rest of the amber liquid, staring at the bottle a minute before transmuting it back into the dirt the glass had been made from and waiting for Harry to finish. "We should probably head back to the camp though. Nomater how much I don't want to engage in pleasantries after this, I am getting tired, and I have no doubt they're going to be worried if you're gone for much longer."

"You have a point." Harry said, finishing his whiskey and handing the glass back to Ed, who once again transmuted it back to it's original substance. "But I think we should do this again some time. Though perhaps not as often as you usually do. Like it or not, you're part of the group now, and if you keep wondering off like this not only will you end up being even more depressed from not taking a break from the memories, but you'll only look even more suspicious to those two. They don't trust you much as it is, and—"

"That's the way it should be. I only told you about my past because of two reasons, the first because you pretty much found out anyway, and second, because you're the only one here who would even come close to understanding, as you went through a lot too. I don't want to even bother explaining myself to people who wouldn't understand anyway. I will tell them what I think is necessary, but that's all. I'm not a museum, and I don't open myself for display to anyone who feels like taking a look. That's just the way I am, and I have no intention of changing that. Now," He said, standing up and brushing off his pants, "How's about getting back?" Harry smiled weakly at the stranger who had suddenly become a companion in grief in such a short amount of time, before he too stood up and started heading back towards the camp.

(1): yes Harry was wearing a coat. I just don't want to have to go into too much detail about what their wearing as I don't think that anyone would really remember what they were wearing anyway.

(2): no I don't know the spell for wind, so I just used the Latin word for it, cuz it looks like the spells are in Latin. THANK YOU **KATT** FOR GIVING ME THAT WEB SITE! My translation website doesn't have Latin, so the one you gave me is immensely useful! Thanks a ton! I was originally going to use Spanish, because it's derived from Latin, but the actually thing is so incredibly much better!

(3): I got that from another fic with this crossover. I can't remember which fic, but the point is IT'S NOT MINE! PLEASE DON'T SUE ME! If it's your quote, I apologize, let me know so I can give ya proper credit!

A/N: GAH! This was a really long chappie! it was going to be shorter, maybe make it 2 chappies, but then I decided It wouldn't flow as well that way, so I just made it one. So there! Ha! And now that I've completely broken the mood of the story, REVIEW! Please! These reviews are all that keeps me going! That and the obnoxious voice in my head that keeps threatening to kill me if I don't get all these little chappie ideas out of my head and onto the story… but still, the reviews help! NOW REVIEW! –points to little review button-


	5. Kent: part 1

Well hey there again! I know this took me more than one week to update, but I suddenly realized that since I started this fic I temporarily forgot about the other two that I'm workin on! Oops! So I went and wrote up one chappie for each of those, and then decided that I can go ahead and work on this one again with a semi-clean conscious (I still feel kinda bad cuz the chappie for my Nausicaä fic is really short…), so here I am! Would you believe I've been typing for the past two hours on these fics? No? well, I have. And before I forget, **_WARNING! THIS DOES GIVE SLIGHT REFERENCE TO CUTTING!_** Remember in book 6 where Dumbledore had to sacrifice blood? Yah, that kind of cutting.

Disclaimer: yes, this fic is mine and it is my idea, however the characters, and few of the sayings belong to some one else. If you see anything else that is obviously not mine and I didn't mention it, let me know and I will slap a random disclaimer on that as well. And if you want to sue me I wouldn't recommend it as I have no money to sue for. –grumbles about sue happy Americans- on to the fic!

Last chapter: Ed finds out what an animagus is and with the aid of whiskey Harry and Ed find out about each other.

Chapter 5: Kent

"You have a point." Harry said, finishing his whiskey and handing the glass back to Ed, who once again transmuted it back to its original substance. "But I think we should do this again some time. Though perhaps not as often as you usually do. Like it or not, you're part of the group now, and if you keep wondering off like this not only will you end up being even more depressed from not taking a break from the memories, but you'll only look even more suspicious to those two. They don't trust you much as it is, and—"

"That's the way it should be. I only told you about my past because of two reasons, the first because you pretty much found out anyway, and second, because you're the only one here who would even come close to understanding, as you went through a lot too. I don't want to even bother explaining myself to people who wouldn't understand anyway. I will tell them what I think is necessary, but that's all. I'm not a museum, and I don't open myself for display to anyone who feels like taking a look. That's just the way I am, and I have no intention of changing that. Now," He said, standing up and brushing off his pants, "How's about getting back?" Harry smiled weakly at the stranger who had suddenly become a companion in grief in such a short amount of time, before he too stood up and started heading back towards the camp.

back with Ron and Hermione

"Harry's been gone for almost two hours. I hope he's ok."

"He would let us know if he wasn't. He can summon us with the coins (1) any time he needs to." Ron said, trying to comfort Hermione even though he was just as worried as she was about it. They had both seen what a good fighter that Ed was, and if Harry's wand had gotten away form him…

"Hey guys. Found him. I think I'm gunna turn in for the night now though." Harry said as he walked into the camp, waving half-heartedly at his two best friends as he walked past. Hermione stared in shock, not only because Harry was suddenly so out of it, but also because of two other things. First, Ed was following not more than three feet behind him which was extremely strange since Ed seemed to try to keep his distance from them when ever possible and had certainly never made camp with them before. The second thing was she was almost positive she could smell whiskey as the two boys walked past her.

"Night Harry, Ron, Hermione." Said Ed as he transmuted himself a hole to sleep in, piling the dirt on either side to form a wall of sorts.

"Night Ed. Night everyone." Harry said, not bothering to change into his pajamas and simply flopping onto the ground where his stuff was and using his pack as a pillow.

Ron and Hermione looked at each other for a moment in slight worry and confusion before Hermione said, "Ron, you should probably go to bed too. I'll stay up and keep watch."

"ummm… alright then. Two hour shifts as usual, right?" asked Ron, too tired to argue.

"Yes. Night Ron."

"Night 'mione" said Ron, walking over to his pack and pulling out a blanket he had purchased to sleep in.

Hermione kept a dutiful watch for about ten minutes before her mind started to wander to the strange blonde they had picked up. She wondered to herself where he really came from, because she had a suspicion that it wasn't Germany as he clamed. It had to have been somewhere else. Not to mention all the peculiar things about him and all the things he said which didn't always seem to match up. There had to be something else to it. Then a thought struck her. If she waited a while longer she could try to go through Ed's things. There was bound to be _something_ in there that could tell her more about him. Pictures, letters, something, surely! With a plan forming in her mind she waited patiently for about an hour before attempting the scavenge. However, as soon as she had taken two, extremely silent steps towards the bags, Ed's voice rang out from the black silence.

"I would appreciate it if you left that alone, Hermione. Oh, and don't look so surprised. I always sleep with one eye open, and over the years I've become a _very_ light sleeper." Hermione was stunned. How did he do that? She would have to ask Ron to help her once his shift started.

"So, we're headed to this place called 'Godric's Hollow,' right?" Ed asked, looking to Harry for an answer. They had just started walking, leaving behind their camp from the previous night which no longer had any appearance that someone had been there only moments before, as was Ed's custom.

"Yah. It's supposed to be located in Kent. That's why we're going there."

"I see. Well, does anyone here know exactly where in Kent it will be?"

"Oh yes, of course we do. Voldemort always announces where he will place his most valuable, most highly guarded personal items so that if anyone just so happens to want to take a look at it they will be able to do so. **_NO WE DON'T KNOW!_**" Hermione shouted, quite obviously annoyed that her several attempts the previous night to go through Ed's things had failed, even when Ron helped (grudgingly, but he really didn't want to piss of Hermione).

"No, I didn't think you would," said Ed, smirking slightly at the enraged look on her face. "So I suggest that we ask around in a bar. It's a good place to pick up on local legends. People from any city or town regardless of size always have a strange tendency to enjoy trying their hand at frightening off tourists and other non-locals with ghost stories."

"How'd ya think a that?" asked Ron critically.

"He probably just wants to get more to drink, that's all." Said Hermione scathingly.

"As a matter of fact I wouldn't mind another bottle or so, but that's far from the reason. I do have priorities you know. As to answer Ron's question, in my… previous occupation… there was a lot of guess work involved. Figuring out where things or certain peoples or homunculi were located was one of the main points in the job. We would be given a city and be left to our own devices. It's just something I quickly picked up from that. But if anyone has a better idea…" He let the sentence trail as a clear indication that he would like to hear the brilliant idea, if there indeed was any, which he doubted. However even if someone had had something to put in he would have to wait to get it, as at that same moment Ron let out a cry of shock as a large brown and black snake slithered around his leg and by the time that Ed and Harry figured out what was wrong, it's head was already drawn back, ready to dive in for the bite.

"No! don't bite him! We mean you no harm. We are simply travelers on our way to Kent. We will leave immediately if you let him go. You will gain nothing in killing him." Harry said to the snake. Or at least that's what Ed heard, though he was rather confused as to why Harry was talking to a snake in plain English. He doubted that that would do much good. However, much to his surprise, the snake uncoiled itself from Ron's leg and slithered back off into the forest once again.

"Bloody hell Harry, I don't think I'll ever get used to you being a parslemoth (a/n: spelling? Anyone?) . Though it does come in handy. Thanks for that." A relived looking Ron said as he rubbed his leg gingerly where the snake had just been as if attempting to rub off the strange sensation that was left there now that the snake was gone.

"By the way Harry, what did you say to it anyway?" Hermione asked.

"Wait, you mean to tell me that nether one of you two understood that?" Ed asked, his face betraying the shock that he was feeling at this new idea.

"No, of course not! He was speaking parsletoung (a/n: spell check please?) , the language of the snakes. It's a rare gift that Harry seems to have… inherited." Hermione said, but after a moment of thought she added, "You mean to tell me that you understood that?"

"Yah. It sounded like regular English to me. Sure it had a slight lisp to it but…"

"Ed, what did you hear me say?" asked Harry seriously, cutting off what Ed was about to say.

"You told it not to bit Ron, that we were just passing through and would leave immediately if it let him go. You also told it that it had nothing to gain by killing him. That right?"

"Yah, yah it is…" said Harry, mulling over this new piece of information. _'So Ed's a parsletoung too. Of course it doesn't mean anything, it's just one hell of a coincidence. He can't possibly be an air of Slytheren, so it must just be a coincidence, right?'_

"So… what now? I mean, you can't possibly trust him now, right? I mean, come on Harry! You know just as well as I do that it's a bad mark if someone can speak that. Do you really think we should continue with him?" asked Ron.

"He has a point, Harry." Said Hermione honestly.

"Actually, I know for a fact that it is impossible for Ed to have any connection to Voldemort other than his relationship with Envy, who just so happens to be masquerading as him. It's just a coincidence."

"How can you know that?" asked Hermione.

"He told me. Everything. Just last night. However I now have an obligation to only tell you what you need to know. All I will say for now is that he has good reason not to want to let anyone know. He's had it even worse than I have, so I honestly can't blame him for wanting to keep it a secret. But trust me, he can't possibly have a connection to any of this."

"How do you know he didn't just make everything up?" Ron asked.

"Well to be honest, I don't think _anyone_ could make up a story like that, and second, it would explain his automail arm and leg."

"Automail? Is that what that is? I've never heard of that before." Hermione said incredulously.

"No, you wouldn't have." Ed said, cutting off any other questions that would have otherwise followed. This was starting to go further than he felt comfortable with.

"I know that we can trust him, and I also know that with all the past experience he's had he'll be very useful to have around. Not to mention his alchemy will be something that the death eaters have never seen before, so they will have one hell of a time fighting him." Harry said, clearly finalizing the matter.

"Besides, if this 'Godric's Hollow' requires a blood sacrifice like the last place evidently did then I personally don't think any of you three should 'donate' to the cause. I've bled enough times that the cut won't hurt more than a paper cut. Unless one of you three really wants to go on from here separately and doesn't mind cutting." He said, dragging his automail finger across his wrist flesh in a smooth motion as if he were slicing it open. "I won't object if you preferred that. I've been on my own before, and to tell the truth I honestly wouldn't mind some space." Ed said with a shrug, leaning on a tree next to the path.

"Fine, come if you want. If Harry says to trust you, I will." Hermione said trying her best to sound exasperated when to be honest she was slightly frightened about how willing Ed was to bleed for their cause. That is what truly convinced her that he was just as serious about killing Voldemort, or Envy, or whoever was behind this as they were. She would still be cautious around him, and she would still try her best to figure out what he was hiding, but for now she would trust him, though cautiously.

"Alright, I guess I'm ok with it too." Ron said, though he would have been overruled even if he had objected, so it didn't really matter anyway.

Satisfied, Ed pushed himself off the tree with astonishing power and grace, landing lightly about three feet down the path.

"Ok, so it's settled then. Let's go, shall we?" he said without bothering to turn around as he started his way forward, the golden light of the morning sun washing over his back and casting a pure, bright light on his already golden blond hair as he led the way towards Kent. Harry and the others followed behind by only a few feet, Harry, though no one could tell at the moment, was greatly relieved that there was someone else there to help him shoulder the weight that neither Ron or Hermione could, regardless of how hard they tried or how much they wanted to, they simply wouldn't be able to understand, or fight with all the fire and passion it would require to accomplish the almost impossible task they had in mind.

(1): remember the coins they used in the book 5 when they form the DA? Yah, those coins.

A/N: and there you have it! I'm going to start working on the next chapter maybe… tomorrow? I know no one here probably cares, but I got to go to this 3 day engineering class (I'm already out of school, so this was something extra I wanted to do) that only 30 high schoolers from all over New Mexico got to go to, so that was really cool, and today was the second day, and tomorrow will be the last. So that's kinda been keeping me busy lately. Tomorrow's the last day, and to be honest I'm kinda gunna miss it. TT well, ok, now I'm rambling. Point is, once it's out I'll get started on the next chappie. I also have to try to get the next chapter up for my Nausicaä fic because I only got to put up a short chapter this time for it, and it was the first one for over a month, so I feel kinda guilty about that, especially because it's my second most popular fic (this one's the first! Yeay!) and I've kinda been ignoring it. So, yah… please review! even a word or two will be awesome! I accept flames, constructive criticism, and compliments! All review types are good! Though my favorite is constructive criticism because then I can try to improve my writing skills. Ok. I'm done now. REVIEW!


	6. Kent: part 2

OMG! Guess what! This fic has only been up for a little over a month and it already has 1181 hits! Isn't that amazing? Well, it is for me, cuz the first fic I started on (which was started several months before this one) only has 858 hits. AND LOOK AT ALL THESE REVIEWS! – points at thingy that shows reviews— it's a miracle! –glomps everyone— thank you! Ok, now on to the official rambling of doom. I'm tellin you all right now that this chapter was supposed to be part of the last chapter, but I wanted to get it up as soon as possible, so I'm posting them separately. There's also a third part to this, and if I can't get it in there, maybe a fourth part too. Also, I have way too many a/n's in here, but it's cuz there's a lot of things I think might need clarifying. I have them numbered so you can find em down at the bottom of the page and read em after the story, or you can read those as you go along. And I have a friend who wants to try to take over the world by use of ducks. Strangely enough, she's not the only person I know who wants to rule the world. And yes that was just a random fact to confuse you all. There will be no ducks or world domination in this fic… I think… hmmm… but I did get some advice in some of those reviews, and I'll try to use it to improve the writing.

**Disclaimer:** yes, I own HP and FMA, that's why I'm incredibly rich and write fan fiction in my spare time. And if you actually believe that you might want to rent a room in the happy house. I hear they give you a wonderful complimentary jacket. Supposedly it's a straight one too…

**Last chapter:** Ed is found to be able to speak parseltongue, but is later accepted into the group (though grudgingly so). They start towards Kent. (don't ask why I'm doin that in bold cuz I honestly don't know…)

**Chapter 6: Kent part 2**

"So being able to speak this is strange huh?" Ed asked Harry in parseltongue. They had decided to talk to each other like that so that they could talk freely with out worrying about accidentally giving any information about Ed's past to the other two or anyone else who just might have been listening.

"No. The only person we know of who can speak it, other than me and you that is, is, or was as the case may be, Voldemort, the only known heir of Salazar Slytheren."

"I see. But you can speak it, right? How is that?"

"Because of the mark on my forehead. The day that He tried to kill me, the curse hit me, but didn't exactly kill me. What it _did_ do however, was infuse some of his… talents… into me, as well as formed some strange kind of telepathic link which will connect me to him at certain times."

"I see." Ed said, though Harry noticed that he seemed distracted.

"What is it, Ed? You look like something's bothering you."

"Yah, well…" He started, sighing slightly, "I… it's not about this different language thing. Actually, considering all the other weird stuff that's happened to me since I got here it's not that weird. I just… How is it that Envy got here in the first place? I know for a fact that he couldn't summon gates before. It might be possible that he can now though, but that still doesn't explain how he knows about Voldemort. Back in Ametris we don't have wizards or witches, only alchemists and civilians. There's something about this that just doesn't make sense, and it's bothering me." Ed said, stopping his walk while he talked and staring up at the passing clouds as they floated by, indifferent to the struggles and pain that consumed the world below them. He silently envied their freedom from the chains, their freedom from worry and confusion.

"Yes, that's been bothering me too. Hey Ed, can you tell me again how it is you got here? maybe we can figure something out. You should probably tell the others too just incase. You don't have to tell them anything else though, they don't need to know any of that now."

"I guess so. They might have some ideas." Ed said in parseltongue before Harry turned around to talk to Ron and Hermione.

"Hey guys, We've been trying to figure out how it is that Envy got here, so Ed said he would be willing to tell you all how he got here.

"Yes, and I believe it will answer more than one question for you as well." Ed added, realizing that to tell them this story would divaulge that he was indeed from a separate world from theirs. This would be interesting/

"Alright then, we'll be glad to listen." Hermione said, speaking for both herself and Ron. Silently, Ron was just thankful that they were talking in English again. The whole snake-talk thing wasn't exactly something he was comfortable with.

"Well, I guess I should start with the assignment briefing. You see, before I came here I was in the military, as a State Alchemist. Bastard Mustang, my superior officer (1) , called me in that morning to get it, at FIVE O'CLOCK IN THE DAMN MORNING MIGHT I ADD!" said Ed, a vain throbbing on his forehead as his eye twitched slightly at the memory of being rudely awaken by Al having to pour water on his head to get him up (2). Harry and the others watched as Ed silently fumed for a moment before remembering that he was supposed to be telling them what happened. "any way, so I went over to get the mission from him and…

**Flash Back **(a/n: Ed is telling the story still, I just find it easier to write in third person. I can get in more detail that way.)

Ed walked down the stone halls of Central HQ towards Mustang's office, completely ignoring the stares he was getting from others in the building. It had been like that since he had "returned from the dead" about a year ago. Yes it annoyed the hell out of him, and under normal circumstances he would have threatened to do them serious bodily harm if they kept gawking at him like that, but right now he was just way too tired. However, he had managed to skillfully stay away from Maes Hughes and his multiple photo albums of his daughter Elicia (3). Once he was standing right outside the General's door he silently prepared himself for the confrontation. God he hated being around that Bastard. He always called him short. He was _not_ short. He was tall, everyone else was simply mutantly tall. It wasn't his fault they were deformed, so why did they always take it out on him? (When Ron, Harry and Hermione all heard this justification they smirked, trying to hide their fits of laughter at the midget before them)

After a minute or so Ed gathered himself together enough to at least look awake enough so as to not have to put up with being called lazy _ as well as _ short, and pushed open the heavy oak doors with out even bothering to knock.

"Ok, I'm here. what the hell do you want from me now you manipulative bastard?" Ed said sounding just as annoyed as he was and making sure that Mustang knew it.

"what? Is there someone there?" Mustang said, trying to sound as if he really couldn't see the fuming blond alchemist that was standing before him.

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING A MIDGET SO SMALL YOU CAN'T SEE HIM ABOVE THE FIBERS OF THE CARPET YOU DUMB ASS!" Ed yelled shaking a fist at his superior officer, using every ounce of restraint he had trying not to rush over and punch the man in the mouth to get rid of that mocking smirk.

"Oh, so it's you Fullmetal."

"You bet your ass it's me! You're the one who called me here!"

"So I did. We have another mission for you. It seems as though there have been several mysterious deaths recently around East City."

"Can't the police handle this?"

"Under normal circumstances, yes, they could. However, we suspect there's more to it than that. The patterns are different from Scar's, however they are far from average. We think the homunculi are involved."

"And you want me to take care of it, right?" Roy nodded.

"Yes. Oh, and take the Stone with you as well (4)."

"What ever." Ed said as he took the file on the desk containing all the details of the case and walked out the door.

After the long train ride to East City (which involved multiple games of cards, a few games of hang man, one game of chess, and about two naps for each Ed and Al), it had taken them about two days to track down the Homunculi responsible. Three Homunculi fit the descriptions that they were given. A cross-dressing palm tree, that had to be Envy; A beautiful woman with long black hair and a tattoo above her breasts, Lust; and some incredibly fat man who kept eating the buildings and anyone he could catch. Obviously Gluttony was there too (5). Supposedly they had taken up residence in a rather large old cage on a giant cliff not too far from the town called Death Rock. Ed found the name quite fitting for the group of homicidal freaks and he and Al went on their way to the cave the next morning (after Ed had gotten up of course). By the time they had gotten there the Homunculi were out side waiting for them.

"Well if it isn't the little chibi and his brother. So, this is what you look like with out the armor." Envy said, suddenly standing directly behind Alphonse and playing with the boy's hair.

"GET THE HELL AWAY FROM HIM YOU BASTARD!" Ed yelled, transmuting his arm into a blade which was now decorated with an alchemic circle for each of the elements. Ed had realized that after his most recent return from the gate that all he had to do was concentrate on a drawn array and he could activated it with out touching it. This was very useful because he could have an element such as fire encircle his blade arm and stab the enemy, so if the blade didn't get them, the fire probably would. Envy witnessed this new found power first hand as a flaming dagger sliced across his arm as he quickly drew back from the younger of the two brothers.

"That's quite a fancy trick you've learned there chibi. A parting gift from the Gate, perhaps?" Ed didn't respond, though his eye twitched at the nick-name that Envy seemed to have picked out just for him. He really wished he was taller…

At the same time Al was battling with Lust as Gluttony simply stood standing by the cave entrance stupidly gnawing on an uprooted tree he had found and watching as Lust tried to impale Al as he dodged nimbly away.

"My, you sure have gotten much more agile without that armor, haven't you? Well, no matter." Lust said as one of her sword like fingers cut a large gash in Al's left shoulder, making him cry out in pain. He dodged the next attack, holding his wound and glaring fiercely at the soulless woman.

"What do you want anyway? Why are you hurting all these innocent people? They have nothing to do with anything!" He shouted, transmuting a large wall that shot out from the side of the cliff, only breaking Lust's fingers upon impact as she jumped back in time to avoid being knocked off the cliff.

"Oh come now Al, surely you already know?" she said as her fingers began to mend themselves. "for the souls it contains of course! Scar has come up with a cleaner method of extracting the souls, which no longer requires killing the body. All it does is leave an empty shell, just like us. walking, talking, soulless creatures. The only thing that sets us apart from them is at least we still have power. They have nothing. Nothing but their memories that is. And that is why they are a threat. We can't have people walking around who can tell you military dogs all about what's happening, so naturally they must be destroyed. You understand, don't you?" she said, advancing on the dumbstruck Alphonse.

"But, that's not possible, is it? Extracting a person's soul from their body without actually killing them?"

"no, far from it, it's very possible indeed. And now that you know," she said, flexing her fingers to make sure they had healed properly, "you have to die now." she said, her nails shooting out towards Al as he let out a scream of terror. However, he was saved at the last minute as Ed came rushing past, getting away from Envy just long enough to block the attack with a transmuted stone box which trapped Lust inside, though only temporarily. She would be able to break free soon enough, but it still gave them about three minutes to work with.

"Now that we know the plan, all we have to do is report it to central and let Mustang handle it. But we still need to finish up here first." Ed shouted as he ran under Envy who had started towards him with a smooth looking black stick. This confused Ed profusely because he had no idea what Envy was trying to do with that random stick. "You take Gluttony and I'll get rid of the stick wielding moron over here." Ed said, gesturing to Envy who was once again advancing on him.

"Got it." Al said as he started towards Gluttony who had begun to waddle over to the stone box Lust was encased in.

"Lust! What have you done with my Lust?" He said, but that was all Ed saw of what happened, for at that moment he had ran up to Envy trying to strangle him when he heard him say in a raspy voice, "EGO VOCO PATORA!" while pointing the stick out in front of him. suddenly there was a blinding light and Ed felt himself being pulled forward. The next thing he knew he was in the middle of the woods looking at Envy's retreating figure.

**End flash back**

"… And that's when I met you all. Well, minus the chasing and exchanging of death threats that is." Ed finished.

"So… Let me see if I get this straight… You… you're from some sort of alter universe or something?" Ron asked bewildered.

"Yes, that's right." Said Ed, hoping that they would believe him so he wouldn't have to prove himself, which he would if he had to.

"Bloody hell that's a hell of a way to make an entrance, mate!"

"RON! Said Hermione, amazed that he could be so willing to believe a story like that. "Harry, did you know about this?"

"Yes. He told me that night that I went off to find him, among with everything else as well, but none of that is important right now. but think about it Hermione, it explains everything! Why he knows so many survival and military tactics, why he know how to get the information he needed, the fact that he doesn't believe in magic but can perform a lost art that only two known people could use, the automail arm that doesn't even exist here, _think_ about it! It all makes sense, doesn't it?" Harry implored, carefully leaving out the part that Ed's leg was automail as well.

"Yes, but then _how is it _that he knows about Germany and can speak German and English?" Hermione said. This time Ed answered for Harry.

"Because I've been to this side of the gate before, when Envy impaled me about three years ago. Yes, Hermione, I have died. I know what happens after death, because I have been there. After I was sent here the first time I managed to get back because my father sacrificed himself to summon the gate, which placed me back in Ametris, the world I come from. All I want now is to get back, and I have a feeling that the only way to do that is by finding Envy and figuring out how he summoned the gate." He said, his golden eyes hardening with determination as he met her previously angered gaze. All that was apparent on either her face or Ron's at this point was shock. "And, I know you probably don't believe me, so this should be significant proof." He said, pulling up his shirt to expose his bare chest with a large scar over his heart. He only lifted his shirt for a few moments before he pulled it back down and turned around, walking back down the path again.

"And now you know just how he got here. Are you happy now, Hermione?" Harry said as he walked off to follow Ed, leaving a stunned Hermione and Ron in his wake.

"So that's why… he can't get home." Ron said, breaking the silence. He had believed the story in the first place, and didn't really need the proof of it that Hermione had, but now that he had it, he was just as amazed as she was, and equally frightened as well. "I'm just glad he's on our side. Now com on 'mione. We need to catch up to them."

(1): in this fic Roy is let back into the military and is now a general, because I can't spell the other ranking, so there.

(2): I decided to have Al join the military after Ed returned. Not sure if that's important, but I'm telling you anyway to clear up any confusion.

(3): I like Hughes too much to let him stay dead, so just pretend he never died and was just seriously wounded but recovered later on.

(4): that's what I'm going to have Al's state title as.

(5): I know that at the end of the series Gluttony was a crazed, brainless eating machine. I fixed that with my awesome authoress abilities! If I have another humunculus alive that was supposed to be dead, well, ignore the fact that they're actually dead for the purpose of this fic. Oh, and I forgot to mention it earlier, so I'll just stick it in here. yes Scar is still alive.

A/N: ok, that's as far as I'm gunna get today! Don't really know when the next chappie will be up, but hopefully it will be soon. Now please review! I would beg you all some more, but my mom's yelling at me to get off the computer cuz I'm gunna go blind, I've been on it for six hours and bla bla bla bla bla. –sigh— well, please drop in a review for me and make me happy! That way, when I go blind I'll be able to say, "well, at least I got some reviews!"


	7. Kent part 3

**I'm back! And guess what? I actually did research for this fic! I think I probably spent three or four hours on here the other day looking for insightful quotes I could use! Ain't that amazing? I only got to use one of them in this chapter though... so sad...But thanks to everyone who reviewed! I love you people… --sniff— oh, and sorry for that delay. I decided I wanted to re-read Full Circle, a fic by one Nike Femme, which is most addicting, and I wasn't able to pull away from it long enough to get much anything done until I got all the way to the most current chapter. I know that sounds like a really lame excuse, but if you've read that fic before you would understand… on to the chappie!**

**Warning: this is an AU fic, which by now I think most of you have figured out, and if not, well there it is! Oh! And THERE ARE HILLBILLIES STUCK IN THIS FIC! I decided that the locals in this active, tourist-attraction type city should all be hillbillies, so there's lots a rural speech in there. **

**Last chapter:** **Hermione and Ron find out that Ed is from an alternate world and also how it is he got there.**

**Chapter 7: Kent part 3**

"Alright, we're almost there. Ed, you go to the bar because you have the 'proper' paperwork to get in, so you should be ok, but we probably won't be able to find anything unless we all looked the right age, and none of us brought an aging potion with us, so we'll just look around to see if we can find anything. We should probably all meet back here at…" Harry checked his watch before continuing. It was currently 5:47 and he wanted to give everyone at least three hours, but he didn't want to get started too late. The more daylight they had the better, but they may have to wait until the next morning. He would talk to Ed about where to stay after they all met back up. "let's say 8:30. that just gives us a little over two hours, so let's get started, ok?"

"sounds good. Umm… what time is it here? I don't think I have my watch on the right time since it's still cued into the time at Central, and it would throw things off a bit if I had to keep asking the time." Ed said, pulling out his State Alchemist watch and flipping it open so he could adjust the time.

"Wow. Nice watch, Ed! Where'd you get that at?" Ron asked, staring at the silver engraving on the cover.

"Standard issue. All the State Alchemists get one to show their rank. It also works as an alchemic booster. I'm just glad the thing still works. Oh, by the way, do any of you know what time it is?" Ed asked, repeating the question, but silently thanking what ever god there might be that he at least had the trust of two of the three at this point.

"It's 5:48. Now let's go, shall we?" Asked Hermione checking her wrist watch and then heading off down the road towards the city.

"She's got a point, we should get going." Ed said, finishing up adjusting his watch which had previously read 3:25 and muttering something about damn confusing time changes between worlds before pulling out the false papers that would let him in the bar from his backpack and following after Hermione.

"Come on Ron, we should get started too." Harry said. The redhead sighted and walked down the path with Harry.

"And more walking. What joy..."

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Ed scoffed when he saw the so called "town." It was just as he had expected. Just another city by the ocean that decided to make as much money off of the tourism as it could. There would probably be multiple hotels, inns, and a fairly large number of bead and breakfasts there as well. You couldn't go more than five feet in any direction and not come across couples or small families huddling around a town map to figure out where to go next or taking pictures of everything they came across. He just wanted to get this over with as soon as possible, however he knew that if he wanted any success it was absolutely necessary to find a place that wasn't packed with tourists. Just a small bar off to the side, away from the main roads. 'This is going to be a lot harder than I thought. Maybe if I get them all really drunk first… yah, that's a good idea! I'll just buy everyone a few drinks. That'll probably get me in with them. Just cuz a place makes all sorts of money off of tourists doesn't mean they have to like them, so I'll need to watch my step until I think I can get the info. I'll need more money first though. If I can find a park or something I can transmute some more when no one's looking. Thank god my alchemy actually works this time around." Ed thought as he headed off to try to find a park. "No time like the present." Ed said, spitefully sarcastic. He really didn't want to be doing this. Too many people for his taste.

-------scene divider--------

"So, where to first Harry?" Ron said, turning to his best friend.

"I'd say we start in the library. Judging by the black history the last place with a horcrux had, this probably won't be too different. We might be able to find some old newspapers reporting mysterious deaths around here, and then we can check it out."

"What a wonderful idea, Harry! You really are brilliant!" Hermione said, stars in her eyes as she ran off towards the stand with all the city maps to find out where the nearest library was.

"That's 'mione for you. Always looking for a book to read." Ron said, shaking his head slightly. Harry laughed.

"Come on, might as well follow her."

-------scene divider--------

'I finally found that damn park! I would have taken one of those maps or asked directions from someone, but that would have not only marked me as yet another directionally challenged tourist, but it also would have been hard to find a local even if I wanted to in this mess. God I hate tourist season. It was never this bad in Central, and Rizumbul didn't get any tourists, just the occasional person who wanted to be fit with automail. This is actually a nice park though. Lots of trees. I'm sure I can find somewhere to transmute the money without anyone noticing. I'll try over there.' Ed thought as he walked over to a particularly large patch of trees. he had to walk relatively far in because within because there were more than a few couples taking the so called privacy to make out behind bushes and trees. Ed rolled his eyes slightly and just kept walking further in to the tree grove. After a while he finally managed to locate a place without any people within ten feet of him and had all the materials he needed for the transmutation. He silently clapped his hands and touched the ground before him, causing the bright blue light of transmutation. He quickly gathered the money that had suddenly appeared in the newly formed small crater, hoping profusely that no one had seen the light and made his way out of the back entrance of the park. 'now for the fun part.'

-------scene divider--------

Hermione had found the library in a matter of minutes, and so soon the group had immersed themselves in the old newspapers, focusing in mostly on the obituaries. At the moment they were looking through the 80's, figuring that most of the deaths would have occurred when Voldemort was still powerful, before the incident with Harry that had caused his demise. Though they did find the number of strange deaths had increased, there wasn't much there that would show it was something outside of the killing curse. After about an hour of searching Hermione spoke up.

"I think I found something. Look here," she said, placing the paper in front of the boys. It was dated October 3, 1998. "It says, 'Marry Sue, age 23, found dead on beach. Signs of impalement, though there seemed to be no evidence of a struggle. Body found in an area where many similar deaths have occurred tracing back hundreds of years. Police currently have no suspects.' " Hermione looked up at Harry as she said the last sentence.

"I think we found our place. Does it mention where along the beach?" Harry said, responding to her silent question.

"No. that's all it says, well besides the part about contacting the police if they had any information. But that is a strange way to die, don't you think? I mean, in the cave it was all concealed, and so no bodies would be found. But how do you think someone could be killed like that without any traces showing of what did it to her?"

"I don't know. Maybe Ed has some ideas. I wonder how he's doing."

"Speaking of Ed, he's not here now, is he? You could tell us what you know about him now, right? I mean, it's not like he'd know." Hermione said, looking excited.

"Hermione, that's not like you. Since when have you wanted to learn all about someone and be willing to stoop so low that you would be willing to do it behind their backs? I won't tell you. It's something that he had a hard enough time telling me, and it is up to him if he wants to tell you. He's had a rougher life than even I have. Just from what you do know you should be able to figure that out. not only was he in the military, but he had more than one enemy after him, Envy included. That should speak for itself."

"Yes, exactly. He was in the military! Why would he do that?"

"That's not important right now. He'll tell you if he wants to. Now let's get out of here, the dust from all these old papers is starting to get to me." Harry said, standing up with conviction as he started walking out of the library, clearly ending the discussion.

"He's right you know. It's not like you, 'mione. Just leave the guy alone. He's on our side, and that's all we really need to know right now." Ron said as he stood up. "Come on, let's go." Hermione stared at Ron for a moment._ 'He's on Ed's side now? Great! Am I the only one who doesn't trust him? We hardly even know him! How can I be expected to just trust someone who just pops up out of nowhere and volunteers to help us? Sure, we all have the same goal, but… I just don't know. Part of me wants to trust him, but the other part of me is afraid to…'_

"Hey, 'mione, are you coming?"

"Oh, yah Ron, I'll be right there." She said as she picked up the papers they had used and placed them on the shelving cart before she walked out of the library with Ron to meet up with Harry who was waiting for them outside.

"Where should we go now, Harry?" Ron asked once they were all outside.

"Well, there's not much time left before we all have to meet up again, so how about we scout the city in our animagus forms for anything that might be trouble. Hermione, Ron, one of you should try looking over the beach. Just see if you can find a place where there aren't any people, and if possible, somewhere the horcrux might be. But whatever you do, don't land. We have no idea of what kind of traps there might be."

"I'll go. An owl will look too out of place in the city anyway." Hermione said. Harry was about to say that she would look just out of place at the beach, but decided against it and just nodded his head.

"Alright, then I'll look over the city." Ron said.

"And I'll check in the buildings. I just hope they don't enforce the leash law too much here, otherwise I'll be in trouble!"

"Yes, and we'd be the ones who would have to come and bail you out. Again. We don't even know where the pound _is _here! you'd better stay out of trouble if you know what's good for you."

"Now that's the Hermione I know. Ok, let's go."

-------scene divider--------

Ed was actually starting to have a good time in spite of himself and the situation. He blamed the beer. And the whiskey. And the bourbon. And what ever else it was he had been drinking in the hour and a half he had been in this bar. The bar hadn't had any sign in front of it, so he had resigned himself to calling it, "The Bar" for lack of a better name. He had found the place by searching back alleys for a place that didn't have swarms of camera-happy tourists. He had almost walked past the place, which wasn't hard to do as the door had been painted the same color as the brick wall in the alley. The only things that gave it away was the dirty window that was located about three feet away from the door, which was only identified as such by the panted brown doorknob that stuck out slightly from the rest of it and the soft yellow glow of light that washed out from under it. Clearly not a place that wanted tourists. He had quickly come up with an excuse before he headed inside. After walking in he immediately ordered a strong whiskey, which of course caused everyone in the room to turn to look at him. Not that that unnerved him at all. After all, there were only about eight people in the whole bar, and that was including himself and the bartender. Of course the order had led to several questions mostly about his age and why the hell he was there in the first place. He had shrugged it off with a flourish of the "legal documents" that proved he was old enough to drink despite his diminutive size (Ed: I AM NOT THE MASTER OF MIDGETS!) and the simple, one worded excuse of, "business." He tried his best to be the conversationalist, and had bought several rounds for all the people there, bartender included. Eventually they lightened up to him and conversation flowed more freely.

"Looks like someone's dog decided to come in for a drink! Poor guy probably just got sick of all those damned tourists." someone asked as a black dog walked in and laid down in the corner of the bar. Ed had learned the names of all the men in the bar. all seven of them. The bartender, Joe, then there was Hank, a thirty year old man who reminded him of Havoc back at Central HQ. Then there was Ned who looked all the world like a stereotypical farmer, overalls and all. He looked like he was in his mid thirties, early forties. Then there was Ace, Garret, Wane, and Tammy, the only girl in the whole room. Ed had found out very quickly that she was just as manly as the rest of them, if not more so. She kind of reminded him of Winry, only without the deadly temper and seemingly endless supply of wrenches. She was the one who had just posed the question. "But sp Ed, why are you here really? And don't lie, cuz I'll know." She said raising a fist threateningly. _'she may not have wrenches, but I still don't want to cross her!' _Ed thought as he put his hands up in surrender.

"Ok, ok, no need to get violent! To be honest my presence here is a combination of two different things. See, my Gramps lived here, and he recently died of lung cancer. He was a guy who, well, he liked his privacy. Didn't really get out much. I don't know how, but that manipulative bastard somehow managed to drag me into his interest in the detective field." He said, working as much love and care into the words as he could, pretending that he had actually known the guy he had made up moments before walking into the bar. "In the end, the guy ended up willing me all his case files, including a local one he had apparently just started. All it said was that he had been doing research and found out about several unexplained deaths here in Kent, and so I decided to take the liberty of finishing the project myself. And that's why I'm here. That and to get away from those god damn swarms of tourists. Granddad always used to say, 'If it's tourist season, why can't we shoot em?' Heh, the man always did speak his mind."

"That's a question I've wondered a few times myself. Too bad it's illegal." Hank said with a morbid chuckle. "But as for that mystery of yours, I think Ned can help ya there. He was one of the guys who witnessed one of the killins."

"Really? You mean you actually saw who did it? Who was it? How did they pull it off?" He asked excitedly, whipping out a pen and his black leather-bound journal he used to take notes on his alchemy research from out of his pants pocket.

"Not 'who,' but 'what.' It was the strangest thing I think I'll ever see. The victim, her name was Marry Sue, and she was the perfect person, a little too perfect if ya ask me. Well, somehow she heard the legend of the old cottage by the beach that would commune anyone who got near the place. According to the tale, it would only show up from 11 o'clock ta one in the afternoon. One day she announced that she was a gunna go see fer herself, so me an some o my buddies decided to go see for ourselves. We all thought it was just a legend, sos you can 'magine our surprise when we saw an old house lookin' all the world like a haunted house outa one of them 'ol black n' white movies. Well Marry Sue started a walkin' towards the house, but when she was but twenty feet away…" Ned trailed off for theatrical drama for a moment before moving cupped hands together suddenly in a motion like a shark biting into its pray, "Bam! These strange spikes just popped out of the ground, impalin' the poor lass. Course the cops came over ta question us, but they didn't believe it. Brushed it off by sayin' 'that's not possible, spikes don't rise out of the ground on their own like that. Are you sure you haven't had one to many beers?' and left it at that." Ned said, mocking the officer with a deep baritone filled with ignorance and stupidity.

"But that wasn't the end of it! Several similar deaths occurred after that for a few years, none that any of us witnessed, but we figured what happened as they all happened in the same place. But after a while somthin' different happened! Apparently someone had managed to make it past the spikes, cuz when they were found they were lyin' in a babbling heap where the doorstep woulda been. Apparently they had had huge amounts o 'lectricity corcin' through their veins an were sufferin' from shock! Never got nothing outa em, and the poor fool died a few years later in the insanity ward. If yer smart you'll do well to leave this mystery just as it is unless you wanna end up like all the others," Hank said sincerely. All the others in the Bar nodded their heads in agreement.

"You're probably right. 'Ol Gramps will just have to settle with not knowing. He'd understand. Well, thanks for the drinks Joe, I'll take a bottle for the road if ya don't mind." Ed said, pointing at the whiskey keg behind the bar.

"Sure, Ed. No problem" Joe said taking the bottle down from the shelf and sliding it over to Ed, who paid for the drinks and after waving goodbye to everyone got up to leave, the black dog following him, much to the surprise and amusement of everyone in the bar, Ed included. Once he was out of the bar and had walked a few blocks deeper into the back alley ways until he got to a alley where all the buildings were vacant and dusty, most of them ready to be condemned. Suddenly the dog that had been following him slowly started changing form. Ed, fully expecting it to be Envy at this point transmuted his arm into a blade and got in a fighting stance. Strangely enough though, once the dog finished shape-shifting it looked like Harry.

"Ed, calm down, it's just me!" the Harry look-alike said. It sounded like Harry too, but that still didn't rule out the possibility of it being Envy.

"If you're really Harry, you can tell me the name of your godfather's hippogriff!"

"Buckbeak. Now do you believe its me?" Ed took a moment to consider this.

"Yes, I believe you. But next time let me know that you're a dog before I take you to be envy and slice off your head." Ed said nonchalantly as he transmuted his arm back again. "I was thinking that we should stay here in Kent until we get a chance to take a look at that place. You know the one I'm talking about."

"The cottage on the beach, right? I agree. By the way, I'm sure you made your grandfather proud back there, Ed. Poor guy, maybe we should go put some flowers on his grave with you."

"Cut it out, Harry. You know, on second thought, maybe you _are_ a humunculus. After all, you're just as annoying as that bastard Envy."

"Gee, thanks for the compliment, Ed." Harry said sarcastically, snorting slightly as the short alchemist's eye twitched slightly. "Come on, let's meet up with the others. I had them scout for any Death Eaters. By the way, we did some research in the library. We didn't find much, just a short article about that Marry Sue girl. All it said was that she was impaled and the perpetrators were never caught. What that man said certainly does fill in a lot of those gaps, and it does sound like magic was involved."

"Magic, or alchemy…" Ed said as he followed Harry out, memorizing the path to the houses so he could find it again later on when they all wanted to go to sleep.

**A/n: There! An update just for you! I hope I didn't get anyone too far out of character in this chapter. I was trying to avoid that, but I'm not sure if I did. Also, lots of hillbilly talk is hard to do! I think I might have overdone it and made it hard to read, but I hope that's not the case. Well, anyway, let me know what you think or if you have any questions. Umm… ok, I think that just about covers it, so sorry for the wait, please don't kill me, and leave a review to help get my butt in gear again. I'll try to get the next chapter up by the 23rd because me and my family are going to Colorado for a week to camp, and I'll be gone for about a week. All the more reason to send me reviews! It'll help me update faster! Questions, comments, suggestions, random bits of trivia that have absolutely nothing to do with anything, the word "review," anything. All reviews are welcomed because it lets me know you people are reading it! Ok, now I'm going to go try to get another chapter of my Nausicaä fic written. –sigh- so much to do, so little time…**


	8. of alchemy and magic

Well, I was sitin in my room, with nothing really to do, and decided, hey, why don't I write up another chapter so I can post it before I leave in two days? So here it is, the product of boredom, three hours, and minor thought bubbles that popped to the surface of my brain and projected themselves onto random pieces of paper scattered about my room. Enjoy!

**Disclaimer:** guess what? I still don't own FMA or HP! GASP!

**Last chapter:** They find out about the mysterious death of Marry Sue (and just ta let you all know, that was 100 percent intentional! I don't like Marry Sues, and I'm glad someone out there agrees with me!) at a strange house which only appears for three hours a day.

**Chapter 8: of alchemy and magic…**

Later that night…

The group had just cooked some food for themselves in one of the rundown shops Ed and Harry had found, which just so happened to be a restaurant. Or, at least it used to be before it had closed. Now it was only a home to a few rats which Ed quickly captured and turned loose on another house. Hermione and Ron had both suggested that he just kill them, but Ed refused, saying he would only kill things that tried to kill him or someone close to him, and then only if it was necessary. Regardless, it was still in much better condition than most of the shops, and had the added bonus of having a kitchen for them to cook their meal in and get some heat from the stove. While they had worked they exchanged information they had gathered and brainstormed about the different traps there would be, and how they must be activated. After this however, they ate their meals in complete silence. After a few hours Ed broke the haunting silence.

"I think I should teach you alchemy."

"What? Why?" Asked Harry, more out of surprise than actual curiosity.

"Let me ask you this. Your 'magic' requites a wand, does it not?"

"Uhh, yah mate, why?" Ron asked.

"What do you do if you don't have a wand around? If someone knocks it away from your hand, you're dead. You've got to know what to do when that happens. Besides, old habits die hard, so I have a feeling that Envy will use physical attacks on you, so you need to know how to fight hand to hand and how to use alchemy."

"But**_Expelliarmus _would knock him back if he tried to do that." Hermione pointed out.**

**"If. You. Had. A. WAND!" explained an exasperated Ed. "as John Powell once said, 'The only real mistake is the one from which we learn nothing.' What do you have to loose?"**

**"I still don't know. Alchemy here is considered a dead art. Not even the most advanced wizards know much about it. I'm not sure if you can." Hermione said tentatively.**

**"The only real mistake is the one we learn nothing from (1). If you don't learn alchemy, at least you can learn some hand-to-hand so you can protect yourself if the need arises." The group still looked unsure and wary of the idea. Ed sighed heavily and rubbed his face with his hand for a moment before speaking up again. "Ok, let's try this. Put your wands away. All of you. Then try to hit me. That's all you have to do, score one hit on me as a group. The only rule that applies is you can't use magic, and I won't use alchemy. Oh, and don't use the chairs or tables because that wouldn't be very fair. How does that sound?"**

**"But that would be three on one! That's not very fair either!" Hermione said, shocked.**

**"Tryst me, it'll take all three of you to even have a chance at hitting me. I can handle myself."**

**"…" the trio was hesitant at first but eventually agreed………**

**…………and failed miserably.**

They had started out trying one on one, but he always managed to either dodge their attacks or flip them over backwards with extreme grace. Had they not been so busy by then with trying to get in a hit, they may have also noticed the smirk on his face as he recalled sparing with Al. _'He was a much better sparing partner than these guys. I just wish he could be here to see this! Their form is so bad! Loose hits, stray arms, no firm stance that they take, heh, this is child's play! Literally! I think Winry would make a better sparing partner! More painful but…"_ he had to trail off his thought because the trio had finally figured out to attack at once. '_Either that or they were starting to get desperate. More likely the second. Even though there aren't any stakes…" _ Ed dropkicked the trio, but Harry managed to jump away from the leg just in time as Ron and Hermione fell over and scrambled to their feet. _'It's still a matter of pride. Looks like Harry has some potential, but the other two,'_ He jumped up and pushed down on Ron and Harry's heads, flipping himself up and behind them in the same move. Where this caused Ron to fall and stumble back to the ground, Harry kept his balance and he and Hermione went in for a punch aiming at his left shoulder and right leg. Ed easily dodged it by throwing his weight into a twist to his right, which caught Hermione off balance and caused her to fall into Ron who was just starting to get up. Harry started running towards Ed again, but Ed just rushed up next to him, putting one arm on the lower back and another arm on the upper chest and flipped him on his back.

"Need some work." Ed said, both finishing his trail of thought and commenting on their mini battle.

"Ok, ok, you win Ed." Harry said, standing up and collapsing in a nearby chair in exhaustion. "Teach us alchemy. In exchange, we will teach you magic. Equivalent exchange, right?"

"Heh, you're a quick learner, aren't you? Well, that sounds ok, but I'm still not convinced that this 'magic' of yours exists. I mean, come on, you expect me to believe that by waving around a polished up stick and saying a bunch of mumbo-jumbo you can make things happen? I'm just a little skeptical."

"Well, there's no harm in showing you I guess. Besides, Harry's right, it's only fair. After all, you've already provided us with a lot of help and information, so I guess…" Hermione said trailing off. Everyone was looking at her in amazement. She had been clearly against Ed from the beginning, and here she was practically inviting him into their group as a friend. Ed blinked a few times, but kept a level head. _'I mean, it's exactly what I was hoping for, I just didn't think it would ever happen! Well, I guess this is as good a time as any to see if this magic stuff exists. It might come in handy later.'_ Ed mused to himself, a brief thought of using it against mustang if it really did work. Though it was unlikely.

"_Wingardium Leviosa"_ Hermione said clearly with a fluid wrist movement, rolling her eyes slightly at the reactions she got from volunteering. She had picked up the wand from on top of her coat which was lying a few feet from the chair Harry had so eagerly claimed.

Ed gasped in amazement for a moment as a chair from across the room suddenly started floating towards the ceiling before……

"**WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT! THAT GOES AGAINST EVERY FRIGGEN LAW OF NATURE!"**

Ed's voice rang out loudly as everyone did a famous anime fall at his reaction. They had all heard Ed cuss before, mostly anyone who had talked to him for more than ten minutes had. But this was different. Ed was yelling complete with a spaz that he usually only got when someone commented on his pint-sized nature. He usually wasn't the kind of person to let things catch him off guard, and usually remained calm and thoughtful (a/n: with the exception of his height issues that is. Ed: WHAT THE HELL IS IT WITH YOU AND TORMENTING ME ABOUT MY HEIGHT? Me: It's fun. Back to story!) mainly because every time he let surprise take hold of him something bad ended up happening. Like last time when he ended up being impaled by the humunculus who had just reveled itself to be his half brother. Once Ed managed to calm himself enough he slouched down and whispered so softly the trio almost didn't catch it.

"If… if magic really exists then… then why were Al and I punished like this?" he murmured, griping so tightly to his automail arm he created a small tear in the fabric, exposing the metal underneath. Harry looked sadly towards him, knowing what he was thinking, knowing what he was feeling. He had felt the same way when he found out that he horcrux Dumbledore had sacrificed himself for was a fake. But at least he could avenge his death, but who could Ed blame for anything but himself? Harry slowly put an arm out and placed it firmly but comfortingly on Ed's left shoulder, his flesh one so he could feel the contact.

"Ed…" That one word from Harry snapped Ed out of his revere and he lifted his head, forcing a smile on his face which fooled no one.

"Oh, sorry! I just wasn't expecting that. It's not exactly something you see everyday where I'm from. That's all." He said, refusing to meet anyone's eye. "Well, I don't know about you, but I'm really tired. How about we all go to bead and talk about this all tomorrow? We can try getting into that house we think might have the horcrux tomorrow too." And with out waiting for a reply Ed walked over and transmuted stone walls all around the building not only for extra protection, but to make sure the walls wouldn't crash into them during the night, then he retreated into a far corner with his bag of supplies and whiskey and pretended to sleep. It was silent for a few moments before Hermione sighted in resignation and laid down as well.

"I guess that's all we can do, isn't it? I wonder what got him so worked up? Oh well. Night everyone." She said, as she too drifted off to sleep. The two boys just shrugged it off as one hell of a weird day and went to bed themselves. They had a long day ahead of them.

(1): that quote is NOT mine! It belongs to John Powell. So ha…

A/N: well, there you have it! The most recent chapter! And you may or may not have noticed that I go from saying automail to auto-mail from time to time, but that's cuz I don't see the difference, and I don't really care. So there. Live with it. If you see any other discrepancies though, let me know so I can try to correct it. Also, I am aware that it would probably be better if I used 'yes' instead of 'yah', but I'm doing it like people talk, and I don't really know anyone who says 'yes,' so I'm leaving it as 'yah' unless 'yes' really sounds better. Sorry if it sounds weird to any of you, just correct it in your mind and move on. Sorry this chapter is coming in so late. I had it ready before I went on my 2 week camping trip to Colorado (which was awesome!) and tried to post it the morning before I left, but wouldn't you know it, it wouldn't let me update! And I was too lazy to go change the intro A/N. So sorry bout all that, but if it makes you feel any better, while I was gone I got another 2.5 chapters written, and as soon as I get those all typed up and such I will update those too! Once again, sorry bout the lateness and all that, but please review!


	9. Alchemy lessons

Apparently my muse likes camping. She kinda slammed into me as soon as I got there singing "I've got a lovely bunch of coconuts; there they are standing in a row… BIG ONES small ones **SOME AS BIG AS YOUR HEAD!** Give them a twist, a flick of the wrist, that's what the showman said…" consequently, that song was stuck in my head for 5 DAYS!

Kate (aka my muse): I SAID I WAS SORRY! But you have to admit, it is a lovely song…

Me: no it's not! Ok, so it is, but STILL! Anywho, I should be getting on with the fic now, shouldn't I?

Kate: yes you should.

Me: XP oh! Before I continue, thank you to my wonderful reviewer of the last chapter, **Lea cat** who pointed out that I put "Bead" instead of "bed" oops! Hehe… I BLAME KATE!

Kate: HEY!

Me: karma… oh, and this was better, but my handwriting sucks, so I couldn't read some of what I'd written. Sorry!

DISCLAIMER: nothing own I.

Last little side note: "this is talking" _'this is thinking'_ this is regular text.

Last chapter: Ed offers to teach Alchemy, and as such Harry and the others offer to teach Ed magic. (Once he gets a wand that is. I have an idea about that, but it won't come until much later in the fic). They also show the skeptical Ed a little bit of magic, due to which he completely flips out.

Chapter 9: Alchemy lessons

"No! Al! Alphonse! Al! AHHHH!" Ed screamed in agony into the thick blackness of the night. Instantly everyone was wide awake and hovering wordily around the shaking Edward, who had broken out in a cold sweat.

"Ed, are you ok? What's wrong?" asked Harry, glasses askew due to his haste to see what was going on and probably also because it was currently 1 o'clock in the morning.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to wake you all up. Just some bad memories that decided I've been suppressing them for too long. It's none of your concern. I'll be fine," Ed said between jagged breaths, rubbing absently at the place on his left leg where the automail connected to his flesh. "Just go to bed, there's no point in you loosing sleep because of some bad dream I had."

"Must've been one hell of a dream for you to yell like that. Are you sure you're ok?" Ron asked, looking worried for his new friend.

"Yes. I'll be fine. Just go to sleep. I'll… I'll explain in the morning, ok? Now good night." And with that he rolled over and pretended to have gone back to sleep until they were all gone. All except one. Harry.

"Don't lie to me Ed. What is it really?"

"Just bad memories like I said. Look, it's not your fault, it's not your concern, and there's nothing you can do to change it, so just go to bead and leave me alone, ok? I'm _really_ not in the mood for this right now," he said, leaning over to his backpack and taking out a bottle of whiskey. Harry glared at him slightly for refusing to tell him what was going on, but Ed simply returned it tenfold as he clutched his bottle in one hand.

Sighing in defeat Harry walked back to where he and the others were sleeping, leaving Ed alone for the time being. Alone with his memories and his whiskey.

---------guess what this is---------

Ed had gotten u p at around 4:30 in the morning to try to figure out what he would tell the trio to explain the previous night's… incident. _'If I told them all about the dream, I would end up telling them all about the human transmutation they have no right to know about that, and there's no way in this living hell I'm going to tell them about it. No one except me knows what I've been through. Not Mustang, not Winery, hell, I haven't even told Al everything. Not that many more people know about my mistake, and I have not intention to tell them. Well, I guess I could just call it an "accident." It's not like I'm obligated to fill them in on all the details of it, and technically it won't be lying either. I'll just need to watch how I phrase it.'_ Shrugging his shoulders he headed off towards the kitchen. _'So long as I'm up, might as well make some breakfast.'_

That morning everyone had a meal of French bread (without syrup or butter because they didn't have any) with scrambled eggs that had little bits of ham in it that had been left over from the sandwiches the night before. They ate in silence for a few minutes before Ron asked the question that was on everyone's mind.

"So, what _did_ you dream about last night, Ed?"

"…" Ed was silent for a moment as he set down the fork he had been eating with. "It… it was a memory from when I was little" he said, carefully phrasing what he had to say in his mind before speaking them. "My brother and I were in an accident. I lost my leg and an arm, and I almost lost my brother completely, but I managed to save him in time. It isn't exactly one of my best memories." He said, wincing slightly as if the words were inflicting a physical wound. Everyone was silent, each of them unable to say anything at the moment, least of all Harry, who was the only one in the room besides Ed who knew what the details of that "accident" were, and feeling sorry for asking about it the previous night when the pain was still so fresh.

After a while Ed spoke up again, drawing their attention away from their personal thoughts. "Look, I'm sorry about my reaction to your magic yesterday, it's just that I'm used to alchemy, and it defies every law that I know, that I've dedicated my life to knowing, and it was more than a little shock for me." He commented, switching topics to get away from the awkwardness that lay heavily in the room after he told them about the accident, for which everyone was grateful. "Well, I guess this is as good a time as any to teach you about alchemy. It has one main rule. Equivalent exchange. In order to create something, something of equal value must be lost." He smirked slightly at that, the one law he had dedicated his life to, memories of his naivety during his attempt at human transmutation fresh in his mind. "for instance, I could take this chair," he said, lifting one of the dusty oak chairs from the room over his head and threw it against the wall, where it shattered. The trop gawked at the sudden act, but Ed either didn't notice, or just didn't care as he pulled pit a piece of chalk from his pants pocket and drew a circle, carefully placing all the pieces of the chair inside it. "and put it back together like this," he placed his hands on the array and it revealed the same chair, exactly as it had been before, minus the dust which had all flown off during the chair's flight across the room, "but Oi couldn't make it any biffer than it was before unless I took materials from the rest of the room. I can't take matter from out of nowhere to use it, because alchemy requires that you use the materials you have around you. Ito do alchemy, you need to use an array, like I drew for this transmutation." He was cut off from what he was about to say next by Hermione, who's thirst for knowledge overcame her shock over Ed's calm desiccation of a chair.

But back there, back when we first met you, you did alchemy without an array. How did you do that?"

"That is because I have seen the gat, and been through it before." He said, his face hardening as he turned to look at her. "It's not something I'm overly proud of, and its something you should never attempt." The force in his voice halted any more questions she might have had. Things went smoothly fro there, and the trio learned how to do a basic transmutation and had learned a few different arrays, though they had difficulty drawing them and activating them. Soon, it was time to go to the mysterious house on the beach, the house that had to have once belonged to the Hogwarts founder, Godric Gryphondore.

---------do I really need to say what this is?-------------

before heading out to the house everyone went out and bought some clothes they could wear at the beach, with the exception of Ed, who chose to stay in his own clothes so as not to expose his automail. The two boys had opted for short sleeved t-shirts and some blue jean shorts where as Hermione had picked out an orange tank top which faded into brown down at the bottom and a short, pleated jean skort. The shore was packed with hundreds of tourists competing for beach-space to spread out their multicolored towels on or to pitch their ridiculously large umbrellas in, all while trying to avoid the rampaging small children on sugar highs. Ed was incredibly out of place in the scene, looking all the world like a blond goth in his steal toed boots, black jean pants, and long sleeved red shirt with it's black flamel plastered largely in the front and a silver chain from his pocket watch dangling loosely and clanking slightly as he walked. Luckily people were too busy doing nothing to pay much attention to the blond teen and only gave a quick disapproving glance at him before continuing to ignore the small group.

"I'll go in first. By then all the spikes should be up, but most likely will only stay like that for about two minutes, so follow quickly." Ed said, addressing the group. With all of the outside noise they were in no danger of being overheard. "As fir the door… well, I'll think of something when we get to it." He finished, shrugging his shoulders dismissively. Ed thought he heard Ron saying something like, "Oh, well that's reassuring." Sarcastically, but wasn't quite sure with all of the other noise, however he did hear Hermione's worried voice from his left.

"Are you sure about this? What if you got impaled by one of the spikes?" this well intentioned question caused Ed to laugh loudly enough that the people around them turned to look at the small alchemist strangely for a moment as he recovered himself and they turned away, continuing to ignore the four teens.

"I wouldn't be a very good State Alchemist, or even a live one for that matter, if I couldn't even dodge my own attacks, now would I?"

"Were you a good state alchemist?" Ron asked in fascination.

"One of the best!" Ed said proudly, "The name Fullmetal was known all across Ametris! 'the Fullmetal Alchemist, savior of the people' that's what they used to call me. God knows after I 'returned from the dead' it was damn near impossible not to be noticed. Thanks to Hughes, the military practically made me their god damned MASCOT after that!" Ed said, caught up in reflections for a moment before snapping back to reality. "I have to admit, it's kinda nice being ignored for a change. But now's not the time for reminiscing. Let's just get through this first." Harry nodded in agreement as Ron and Hermione followed wordlessly behind.

The group continued to weave their way through the dense crowed for almost thirty minutes before the crowd started to thin out, and a few minutes later they were the only ones left. Ed paused for a minute, taking out his watch, and without looking up he addressed the trio.

"We're about three minutes early, and accounting for the fact that my watch might be a little bit off I think we should wait about five minutes before continuing." He put away the watch and looked at the group, fixing them with his sharp golden eyes. "We don't want to waist time by going past it. In the mean time, you should see what we will be facing. I don't think you'll have to worry about it, but there is a chance that you won't have time to make it all the way to the house before the spikes go down then renew themselves, in which case you will be in danger."

"You have a point there. So how does it work? I mean, assuming it's alchemy, not magic." Harry asked.

"Well, first off, it can't be just alchemy. If it was, there would need to be someone there to activate it, so I think some magic had to have been involved. Heh, I still can't quite believe I'm saying that." Ed admitted, shaking his head slightly as he sat down on a nearby rock and started to draw an array in the sand with his finger. "This is what the array would look like, not that it will have much significance in getting around it, but personally I'd rather draw the circle so you can see it. It's actually pretty simple because you're only working with one element." He said, placing his hands on the array and activating it as about twenty small spikes suddenly shot out of the sand, standing about four inches high. "This is only a small version to give you a general idea about it. So, what do you think? Can magic demolish larger versions of this? One pillar at a time though because if you destroyed them all I have no doubt they would just shoot back up again."

"Yes, but it would cause a lot of noise and might draw attention to us I would rather not have," Harry responded thoughtfully.

"You're right. That defiantly wouldn't be a good thing," Ed said, thinking for a moment. "A partial transmutation would work. I could draw an array on each of your hands so all you have to do is activate it and touch the spike and it will be demolished," Ed said, silently asking for consent which was swiftly given to him. he skillfully drew an array on each of their hands with a marker and had them practice with chunks of rock he transmuted for them from the beach sand. Harry had gotten the hang of it first after about fifteen minutes, Hermione followed suit in a matter of seconds, and Ron only managed to crumble a few chunks off his rocks. Nonetheless, they headed out for Godric's hollow.

A/N: that's all for now! I have another two chappies written up (handwritten sadly. Ya know, my handwriting hasn't improved since I was 8, and I'm 16! –sigh- oh well…) and as soon as I get them typed I'll go post em. But if anyone out there has caught a mistake in this or something, please tell me so I can pay more attention to it in future chapters. On that note, is that actually how you spell Godric Gryphendore? I'm not sure, but if you know, please tell me! Also, my muse has come up with yet another fic idea, possibly only a one shot, but I'm not too sure, I might make it into a set of drabbles, but since it was her idea, I shall let her introduce it to ya!

Kate: -ahem- this is another FMA/HP crossover, and is a Ed goes to Hogwarts. It---

Me: OH! OH! I know I didn't want to do one of those, but there's a couple parts I thought would be just so much fun to write –says all of this in one breath—

Kate: I'M THE ONE DOING THE SUMMERY, SO SHUT UP! –smacks hanjuuluver- as I was saying, it's currently one chapter because Hanjuuluver is a lazy ass and didn't want to try writing anymore sinarios because she just wanted to curl up on the couch and watch her 12 Kingdom DVD's…

Me: HEY! that's good stuff! And I started to! I just… kinda… ok, so I'm a lazy ass. Happy now? XP

Kate: immensely. But back to the topic, Ed encounters a Bogart which takes the shape of "The Gate" future variations may include Winry, Izumi, Sloth, a mascot, and a furby. Do tell us what you think, and she might post it! If she does post it, it will be in the anime crossover section. Tell us in a review, along with reviews from this! Reviews accepted from everyone, even those who don't have a account, so please make her happy so she doesn't get lazy again and just sit back eating bagels all day.

Me: but I like bagels!

Kate: shut up! And all of you readers out there, PLEASE REVIEW!


	10. The Cottage

Disclaimer: not mine.

Last chapter: Ed teaches everyone a little alchemy.

Chapter 10: the cottage…

They had been walking for about twenty minutes before Ed held a hand up, singling them to stop before pointing in front of him. Right there in front of them was a small cottage with a porch and three rocking chairs which stood perfectly still. It was picture perfect, the windows had stayed clean, the porch itself seemed swept and it looked occupied, because as far as the group could tell, no dust had settled on the building for even a few days, let alone the hundreds of years that would need to be accounted for if it really was Gryphendore's cottage.

"There, we've found it." Ed said, his voice strong and confident.

"Are you sure? It looks like someone's timeshare or something." Hermione pointed out skeptically.

"What did you expect? A dark, foreboding building that looks about to collapse and a skeleton hanging from a dead tree off to the side?" Ed responded sarcastically, not even bothering to turn around as he scanned the surroundings. At first glance, it looked just like it could be a timeshare. It was backed up against a cliff overhang that provided little, if any shade. It had a wonderful view of the beach, but was far back enough that even at high tide it would be well away from the water. There was no garden, or any kind of plant for that matter. There didn't even appear to be weeds growing around it, as Ed's careful gaze was careful to notice. No signs of life of any kind. The house seemed well cared for though, even if it could use a paint job. Ed shook his head imperceptibly as he shook off his train of thoughts and turned his attention back to Hermione as she softly started to disagree with the short, headstrong alchemist.

"Well, no, I guess not but…"

"You can think all you want, but if you don't take action, what good does it do you?" Ed stated, turning around sharply on his heal to face them. "Here us advice to live by. To will is to select a goal, determine a course of action that will bring you to that goal, and then hold to that action until the goal is reached. The key is always action (1). I have my goal, and I intend to reach it. If this isn't the right house then I'll keep going until I find it." He said, turning around to face the house once again and started walking towards it, face showing complete determination. Hermione started after him, looking as if she was about to retort, but Harry grabbed her shoulder to keep her back.

"He's going to go. If this is the right house then we will need to stay behind until he makes it to the door before we follow." The trio turned towards Ed's retreating figure when suddenly huge spikes of sand shot out from the ground, each one about twenty feet high and towering above the small alchemist who quickly jumped up and pushed off the first spike and jumping off each spike that protruded towards him in turn, twisting in midair to avoid new spikes that would shoot out at him from the already existing ones or from the ground. Suddenly, spikes came up from three sides at once when he was about to leap away from one of the spikes, making it impossible to dodge. Ed quickly clapped his hands, placing them on the spike he was cling to which quickly fell apart, taking him down with it and just barely allowing him to escape the spikes. As soon as his feet touched the ground, another set of spikes shot out from only a few inches in front of him. He immediately grabbed on near the top portion of the spike which launched him upward, allowing him to leap from spike to spike again which he did with the speed and agility of a leopard. Soon he was gangling with one hand off a spike that jutted out horizontally, placing him only fifteen feet up in the air, and about five feet from the porch in front of the door. Ed swung his feet up over his head as he pushed off from the spike, allowing him to do a perfect back-flip and landing lightly on his feet, though he made sure to shift most of his weight to his left leg so his automail could absorb the impact. He quickly spun around and yelled at the rest to come over, which they did. A few extra spikes jutted out at them, but they all managed to either dodge or disintegrate the oncoming threat just in time, though Harry received a small scratch across his upper left arm from a spike that shot out at him from the side while he was trying to dodge it. Once they had reached the end Ed looked at it and wiped it off carefully with a scrap of cloth from the torn sleeve, stopping the bleeding.

"There, you'll be fine." Ed said, tossing the slightly bloody cloth on the porch. "now for the door. I figure whatever caused the 'insanity or death' is placed somewhere along this wall, though I'm not too sure what it is."

"Bloody brilliant deduction there Ed, what gave you the hint?" Ron said jokingly. Ed just stuck his tong out at him as Hermione and Harry stifled their laughter.

"But how do we get around that?" Harry asked once he had calmed down a bit, shaking Ed out of his one-sided glaring contest with the top of Ron's head (the red-head had doubled over in laughter by that point and was having a hard time stopping, hence the glaring).

"Simple." Ed clapped his hands, touching the floorboards as alchemic energy rushed towards the wall and it collapsed into a pile of splintered wood. "You demolish it." The trio stared agape at the large hole that had only moments before been a wall. Ed chose to ignore that too as he stepped over the scattered debris. Harry and the others followed in his wake only to be stopped again a few seconds later by a brick wall. Ed stopped in front of it and tried to transmute it to rubble, but to no avail. Harry and the others then tried to use magic to break it down, but their spells only ricocheted off the wall and back to them, forcing them to dodge the rebounding attack quickly.

"Well, I guess this is the wall that needs a blood sacrifice. What fun." Ed said sarcastically as Harry started reaching for the cut on his arm to break it open again, but Ed's own hand stopped him.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you. I don't know much about this magic, but I have a feeling that if you got someone's blood you could do a lot to them Am I right?" He asked, turning to Ron and Hermione.

"Oh yes, there's _loads_ of potions that call for the blood a person who you intend to use it on or to become. I've read all about them. There's the—" Hermione was cut off from listing all the different potions and spells by Ed's curt voice.

"You should know not to always believe what you read Hermione, but that's not the point right now. I told you back before we even entered Kent that I would be the one to do this, and I don't break my promises." Ed released Harry's wrist as he spoke and transmuted his arm into his trademark blade, swiftly drawing it across his flesh wrist and not even making a sound as the blade bit into his skin and blood trickled down his exposed arm.

"Doesn't that hurt?" Hermione asked in shock and horror.

"No. Compared to all the other cuts I've had to put up with in the past, this hurts even less than a paper cut would to any of you." He laughed slightly, darkly amused by the truth in that remark. "Anyway, where do I put this?" he asked, waving his still bleeding wrist around in the air (Hermione had to turn around a moment. She still wasn't very used to seeing blood, and was feeling slightly queasy).

"Just anywhere on the wall will do, I guess. That's what Dumbledore did." Harry said in a quiet monotone. Ed had just sacrificed himself for him just like Dumbledore had done that night he had died, and memories that he really didn't want to put up with now were suddenly flashing through his mind faster than he could sort them out.

"Dumblewho? Never mind," Ed said, holding his arm over the wall and allowing a few drops of blood to splash against the wall which instantly disappeared. "Well that was weird." Ed commented simply as he blinked and walked into the room that had just appeared before him. The room was simple and sparsely furnished. It seemed to be a kitchen that doubled as a dining room. There was a brick oven in one corner of the room and an old faucet that Ed assumed drew water from a well somewhere. On their left was a fireplace that could have been used for both warmth and cooking. Other than that there was a small circular table in the middle of the room with two chairs and a perfectly polished surface. This room much resembled the outside of the building in the sense that it too seemed in perfect condition. No dust had settled, nor were any of the things they found in that room at first glance even remotely dirty. Ed tried to dismiss the strangeness of it all by turning around to face the rest of the group.

"I think we should split up. I have a feeling that if we don't get in _and_ out of here within the three hours it's visible, we won't be able to get out until the next time it is, which would be tomorrow, so the sooner we get this over with the better. Keep an eye out for anything that might help us find it."

"Good plan. Ron, how about you stay here and check drawers and cabinets? Also, in a place like this I wouldn't be surprised if there are hidden compartments in the walls or something, so check on that as well. It'll probably have a hollow sound if it's in a wall, so if you hear that kind of sound, try to break the wall open with something. Hermione, Ed and I will go pick out a room and do the same thing. We'll meet back here in… let's say one hour." Harry said. The group agreed and everyone split up. Ed chose what appeared to be a study, Hermione picked the bedroom, and Harry took the living room.

A/N: yes, that is a lot shorter than the last chappie. Strangely, when written down it is about five pages… hmmm… oh well. I was going to get this up yesterday, but my mom let me check out DVD's, and so I was too busy watching the final two disks of DNAngel to be productive. SORRY! But I would still like to know how many of you like the idea that I had—

Kate: don't you mean that _I _had?

Me: sure, sure whatever. But I still need to know if any of you think I should post it. Reviews are wonderful, and so whoever sends in a review gets one of these pretty shinny things. –points to jar of shinny things- so please review and make me happy! Please? I don't know how long it will take me to get the next chapter up as I still have to type out the final chappie of my Nausicaä fic before I leave to Canada on Friday, and I have three disks of Chrono Crusade to watch. YEAY! Not to mention a lot of people updated while I was gone and I still haven't gotten around to reading all of them. Oops… well, depending on how many reviews this gets, I might update tomorrow, or on Friday. Or, possibly not till I get back, so please please please please _PLEASE _review and give me an opinion on if I should post the other fic or not. If you don't know what I'm talking about, I put a summery of it in the ending A/N of the last chappie. Ok then, ta ta!

(1): that is not mine! It belongs to some guy called Michel Hanson! This is a disclaimer on that quote so no one tries to sue me.


	11. discoveries

Disclaimer: do you _think_ I own HP or FMA? If I did, why would I be writing this? And why do all those lawyers make me write one of these on every chapter? I should sic some flame-thrower wielding furbies on them…

Last chapter: Harry, Ed and the others reach the house, and split up to find anything that might be important.

Chapter 11: Discoveries…

The group had been searching for an hour and met back up in the kitchen as they had agreed. Because there were only two chairs in that room, and Ron had already taken the liberty of occupying one of them, Ed and Harry stood, allowing Hermione to take the other chair.

"I found a journal of his. Most of it just had a bunch of math equations and transmutation arrays, but there were some pages that were really interesting. One of them had some sort of prophecy." Hermione said excitedly as soon as they all got there, taking out a small black leather book and opened it up to one of the last few pages and started reading the entry.

**_June 7, 1638_** (1)

_**I was told a most interesting prophecy today by a very skilled seer.She4 told me that something I would acquire would become a container for great evil. I have no idea what she meant, but she also said it would later belong to "the one whom death holds no mystery and life can border between two lives. He will be the one to pacify the depths of an undertow and help destroy immortality by sacrificing himself." I've been up for hours trying to figure out this riddle and I think it's time to retire to my bed for the night. Perhaps my dreams will provide some answers.**_

"Then there were also some other entries that talked about some scientific breakthrough, bit it never says what it is." Hermione finished, closing the book and setting it back down at the table.

"He'd been doing research on how to make the Philosophers stone." He said scathingly, curling his hands up into tight fists on the table, glaring at the book as if it had wronged him somehow.

"You mean there might be another one?" Harry asked, remembering that the stone could give someone eternal life, as well as remembering how badly Voldemort had wanted it in his second year.

"Yes, I do."

"How do you know for sure?" Hermione asked.

"I was in the study, remember? He had all his research notes spread out on his desk, and the ingredients he uses aren't much different from the alchemic version of the stone." He said, denting the table with his automail arm because of the pressure he was putting on it to keep from going over and punching a hole in the wall.

"Ingredients? That doesn't sound so bad. Why are you so upset about it?" Hermione inquired.

"Because," he said with a pained smirk, "it requires human lives. Hundreds of them." Silence fell over the group. Harry stared down at the table as if it somehow held the answers to why someone would be willing to do such a thing. Hermione stared in utter shock, still staring at Ed, who had bent his head, allowing his bangs to obscure some of his face, casting his eyes into shadow. Ron also looked at Ed, almost as if he had just seen the alchemist sprout another head.

"That's horrible! How could anyone…" Hermione couldn't even stand to finish her own sentence.

"Power. The stone amplifies alchemic powers and also allows you to bypass the laws that govern it. And contrary to what you what you know about it, it does not give you eternal life. Or, at least not in the same body. What it does is allow you to take over someone else's body, thrusting the mind, spirit, and soul of whoever was occupying it previously to the gate. In other words, killing them. It's not a blessing. In fact, it's more of a curse. Back in Ametris, anyone who came into contact with it, even if it was nothing but a cheep replica of one, suffered horribly in one way or another. But in people's mad quest for power, none of that matters. All that matters is the power it gives them." Ed said, before looking up and locking eyes with Harry. The next words he spoke, though everyone could hear them, were clearly meant for Harry, and the intensity found in the depths of the golden, pain filled orbs left no room for misunderstanding. "Power will always corrupt you unless you only want to harness it for good reasons, like to save lives. Never, _NEVER _seek power simply to make you stronger, and never try to twist good intentions into something their not, like saying you are doing it to empower your god when all it really is for is revenge. That is the kind of goal that corrupts people. Never become like that." Ed's gaze seemed to pierce into Harry's very soul, and when Harry finally managed to rip his gaze away from them, the words continued to echo through his mind and linger in his soul. This disturbed him first because it sounded like something the old headmaster would say, but also because he knew that the power in the words came directly from experience on Ed's part, and yet they hit so close to home for him. "Life teaches you things, but it seems like the more and more we know of it, the more we wish we had never found out." Ed's words sprang to his mind from a few nights before, and now he knew just how true those words were.

"Ron, did you find anything? Harry asked, trying to take his mind off of his dark thoughts for a moment. Ron stared at him for a moment, first to register the change of topics, and then to realize that he was supposes to answer the question.

"I just found some dirty dishes. Oh! There was this one place in the wall that sounded weird, but I couldn't get it to open."

"Show me." Ed said quickly, glad that an occasion arose that he was actually _suppose _ to punch a hole in the wall, and also because the space may hold valuable information.

"alright. It was over there, but the brick oven." Ron said, slowly standing up from his chair and showing Ed a spot on the wall about four feet up and about two feet away from the oven.

Ed knocked lightly around the area and heard a hollow reverberation in the spot the compartment would probably be at, raised his automail fist, and slammed it into the wood. There was a loud splintering sound as the wood caved in under the force, revealing several empty vials and an empty scabbard with alchemic symbols scratched on to it's leather hide and it's gold trim outlined the flamel on Ed's shirt. The only difference was that the serpent was made out of small inlayed rubies. Ed quickly figured out that the glass vials once contained the liquid substance that he had found in similar vials in Tim Marco's house, still feeling a twinge of guilt about what he had let happen to the man. The scabbard was a mystery to him until Harry spoke up next.

"This scabbard looks like it goes to the sword I pulled out of the sorting had second year! It had arrays on it too, though at the time I didn't know what they were.

"well, Dumbledore _did_ say it belonged to Gryphendore." Hermione said with a hint of incredulity.

"Those circles are for the five elements. Fire, water, earth, air, and metal." Ed said, indicating each rune in turn. The group just looked on for a minute until Harry reached inside and grabbed the scabbard, carefully avoiding knocking over the empty vials.

"We should take this with us. I don't know why, but I have a feeling we should take it and the sword for the final battle." Ed nodded in agreement before flipping open his pocket watch. It read as 12:55.

"We should really get going. We have about five minutes, and I can't be sure that the house's internal clock will match mine. Clearly there isn't any horcrux here, just a clue to one. Speaking of which, Hermione, will you bring that journal along with you?"

"Sure," she agreed, shrinking both the book and the scabbard with her wand that she had tucked inside the hem of her shirt. "Here. now we can carry all of it out without looking too out of place," she commented tucking them away in her pocket.

"I'm never going to get used to that…" Ed said staring at the spot the objects had been previously before rushing the group out of the house. They encountered no resistance upon leaving. In fact, they had barely all gotten out of the front door before the whole building vanished behind them. "Nope, defiantly not going to get used to it." Ed said with a sigh.

(1): I just made that up, so if anyone out there knows around what year Gryphendore was around, or, better yet, how to actually spell his name, feel free to tell me! Nitpicking is good for me.)

A/N: there you have it! One last chappie before I head off to Canada tonight! Hope you all liked it, and feel free to tell me if you didn't, or even if you did! Both would make me happy! And I'm serious, I can't spell, so if you noticed anything that sounded weird or was misspelled (I'm sure there's something in there…) feel free to tell me! And for anyone who is interested, I decided to put up that story where Ed encounters a bogart. The fic is entitled, "Bogart Encounters" and turned out pretty well. Or at least I think it did… I also decided to put up another one that I just randomly came up with when watching the magical dueling classes with Professor Lockheart, so I thought that would be a fun one to do with Ed up there fighting with Lockheart rather than Snape, so yah… it's up there too. If anyone's interested in either one of those you can just look at the stories listed at the bottom of my profile and take a look! if not, then ok! But please leave a review. I'm quite happy, I actually have 40 reviews right now for this fic. It makes me feel so special!


	12. the invitation

Hey there! I'm back again and I'm so incredibly happy! Wanna know why? This fic has only been up for a little over a month and it's actually on a C2 list now, as well as being on 15 peoples favorites list, 24 peoples alert list, has over 3,740 hits, and has an amazing **_55 reviews!_** Can you believe that? I had no idea this fic would be so popular! And while I'm on that note (and before I start going into some huge thank you speech and bore the few people who actually read this part) I would _really really _like to thank everyone who pointed out spelling errors, and yes, that includes you ZZ. Just take me calling you ZZ as my form of revenge because you're still in China and I'm in still here, so you can't hurt me! Yeay! On a related note, she has also volunteered to edit this fic for me so you don't all have to put up with my absolutely horrible excuse for spelling (just be happy you don't have to read this hand written! Even _I_ can't always read my handwriting). Sadly, she's gone for the time being, so this chapter will be unedited. Anyway, as I was saying before, thanks for all the help with the spelling of names and for actually taking the time to drop by and leave me a couple words on how I was doing. So I guess the best way to thank you is to stop my rambling of doom and just get on with the next chappie, right? Well ok then!

Disclaimer: I do not own this and if anyone still tries to sue me for something that I left out in the disclaimer I shall have to sic my furby minions on you.

Last chapter: the group explored the old house of Godric **_Gryffindor_** (thanks to you reviews who corrected that for me! I can actually _spell _that now! Isn't that amazing?) and found not a horcrux like they had thought, but instead a riddle, the empty scabbard for a sword, and the knowledge that Gryffindor created at least one philosopher's stone.

Chapter 12: the invitation

That night the group returned to the rundown kitchen they had taken temporary residence in and all agreed to leave the next day to try to find an _actual _horcrux, though Dumbledore had known _what _most of the horcruxs were, he had never specified the _where_ aspect of it. Furthermore, none of them could make much more sense out of the prophecy found in Godric's Journal than he had. The only thing they could figure out was the part where it said, "the one whom death holds no mystery." Clearly it meant someone who had died before. Most likely someone like Ed who had been through the gate before. The only problem with that was, well, actually several things. First, there was no way to know whether that person was dead or if they had even been _born_ yet, let alone the fact that there are hundreds of thousands of people in Britain _alone_, not to mention in the whole _world_, assuming that who ever it was just so happened to be on their side of the gate, and not on Ed's side. They had just bee discussing this very problem when a large white owl soared in through the window and landed graceful atop Harry's head.

"Oww…" Harry said flatly at the impact.

"It's Hedwig!" exclaimed Hermione excitedly. They had needed to leave the snowy owl with the Weasley family because it would been rather odd looking to see a group of three teens walking around the country touting a screeching white owl around with them.

Ed was not even attempting to hide his curiosity about the unusual situation. Not like he had ever really been in a _normal_ situation, but even in his hectic life of mass chaos had he seen someone with a pet owl that would stay away for over a week. Then again, he hadn't even known people _could_ have an owl as a pet. Harry noticed the confusion playing on Ed's face and laughed as he offered his arm to the bird as a perch, which she took with a hoot of approval.

"People from the wizarding world use owls to deliver letters instead of using the mail service. The owls are trained to find the one who the letter is addressed to, which means that we would have gotten this nomater where we were at." He explained, taking a letter off the owl's outstretched leg.

"I see. So, what does it say?" Ed responded as Harry opened up the letter. Harry raised his head and looked towards the red-head in the corner.

"It's from your mum, Ron. "Looks like Bill and Fleur's wedding is coming up. Says it'll be in three days, and will go from three to four in the afternoon at the Dimah Gardens…" Harry paused a moment looking at Ron questioningly.

"It's some garden a few miles away from the house. It's really big, and has an open patio in the middle of it. It's walled in too, so it makes it more private. Knowing mum she'll probably manage to guilt Bill into inviting the whole family, so they'll probably need all that room," he said with a shrug. "Plus, it means they can magic the garden and not have to worry about muggles seeing it."

"Muggles?" Ed asked.

"It means people who can't use magic." Harry explained off handedly before continuing to read the letter. "The reception party will be at six and go till eight, dinner will be served there, and it'll be at the gardens too. Then she says…" Harry trailed off as he skimmed the rest of the letter, smirked, then handed the note to Ron, suggesting that he read the rest himself. Though Ed never got to read the letter judging by the embarrassed blush on Ron's face which was now as red as his hair, combined with the effects it had on Harry (who was now leaning on the wall for support as he laughed), he guessed he didn't want to know.

"So I guess that means we're going to you're house next, Ron." Ed mused.

"I don't think we have much of a choice." Harry replied once he had regained his breath from laughing at both the letter and Ron's face. "Bill is Ron's older brother, not to mention to refuse the invitation when it comes from his mom would mean you would have to have a death wish." He finished, grinning at his best friend who, quite the opposite from his friend was groaning as he remembered the Howler he had received from the very same woman back when he had flown his dad's car to Hogwarts in their second year.

"Oh come on you two! She's not that bad!" Hermione exclaimed, clearly exasperated.

"Easy for you to say! You didn't _live_ with her!" Ron retorted.

'_At least you have a mother. You should be thankful for that.'_ Ed thought silently to himself, regretting once again that he didn't have such a luxury, nor had he since he was eight, but rather than speak this thought he spoke over the two bickering teens (who had somehow managed to go from arguing about Ron's mother to something that sounded to Ed like spew. Once again, he decided he didn't want to know) by saying, "Well, if you're going to a wedding, you should probably get them a present." Strangely this managed to get them to stop arguing mid sentence almost. Hermione still had an arm up, brandishing it at Ron in the same manner a mother would use to scold a small child, while Ron stood like a deer in the headlights at the comment. He hadn't even thought of that yet. Luckily, Harry saved them both from the trouble of saying anything.

"You made that sound as if you're not going," Harry pointed out.

"Well, no, I wasn't going to. After all, it wasn't like I was invited or something. Besides, this is something that should be shared with family and good friends."

"You don't need to worry 'bout that. Besides, you are our friend, and to be honest, there'll probably be so many people and so much food no one would even notice you." Ron said, as Ed bit back the urge to start yelling at him for picking on his height again (too much time around Mustang made it too easy to misinterpret anything along the lines of "wouldn't even notice you" as an insult on ones height).

"I appreciate the offer, but I just wouldn't feel right about attending something like that. But give them something from me and tell them I extend my congratulations, but couldn't make it. I can just wait outside." Ed said, declining the offer.

"Alright, if that's what you want to do," Harry said, shrugging his shoulders slightly. "But if you don't mind me asking, what are you going to give them?" Ed thought about this for a moment before answering.

"Well, they say the best gift is a handmade one." He said, taking mental stock of everything around him. _'wood, chairs, tables, all of those are wood…a few flowers… looks like blue, purple, red, yellow, white… what else? Let's see…well, there's pots and pans in the kitchen and other cooking utensils, and nomater where you look there's dust and dirt…'_ he thought, smirking to himself. "Now this I think I can work with," he murmured as he clapped his hands and placed them on the ground. Suddenly sand and certain flowers started concentrating themselves in a spot between Ed's hands and slowly a shape started to gracefully twist amidst the electrifying blue light, continually growing taller, and in some parts wider, bending itself to Ed's will. Once the alchemic light faded away Hermione stifled as small gasp. Before them sat a vase shaped exactly like a large, indigo orchid. The petals curved in slightly at the middle of the vase and curved softly out again at the top to form the lip of it. The vase was so accurately made that the only thing that gave it away for what it truly was, was the opaque sheen to the glass, just enough so you could see through the vase to the flowers that would rest inside it.

"I extracted the pigment, or the color, from the flowers, and all glass is is compressed and heated sand, which there was plenty of around this place." Ed explained. True to what he said, when the trio looked around them, most of the dirt had gone, as well as many of the flowers that had started growing through the uncared for floorboard and were now resting, completely drained of color, only a few inches away from where the vase stood. "Now the only problem is figuring out how to get it there with out worrying about breaking it." He said, rubbing the back of his head.

"oh, well that's not hard. I'll just cast an unbreakable charm on it. We should probably shrink it too. You know, just so it's not too hard to carry around with us." Hermione said, taping the vase twice. At the first tap it shrunk, and with the second tap it glowed slightly, but looked the same as before. "there you go," she said, handing the small, ornate gift back to ed. "I guess it's true what they say. Big things come in small packages." She said, referring to the amazing piece she had just shrunk down.

"WHO YOU CALLING A MICROSCOPING PUNY SHRIMP ONLY SEEN UNDER A MAGNIFYING GLASS!" Ed shouted menacingly, glaring at both Ron and Hermione (he still hadn't forgotten about Ron's comment on not being noticed). Harry just laughed.

After a while Ed turned around to put the small vase inside his backpack and at the same time pulled out a small bag from inside the pack, the contents of which clanked together in the movement. Ed noticed the questioning glances and shrugged his shoulders. "Maintenance. Just because I'm in an alternate world where magic works doesn't mean my automail will magically take care of itself. Besides, Winry would probably kill me if I came back with a non-functioning arm and leg." He said, wincing at the thought of her flying wrenches of doom as he emptied out the contents of the bag. Screwdriver, oil, oiling can, polish, polishing cloth and a few screws incase he need a replacement one, along with a wrench she had "given" him before he had left this last time. He stared at the wrench for a moment, silently wishing that they would all just go away for a while and leave him alone while he did his tune up. He then took some time arranging all the things around, not that it really mattered, he just wanted them to get the hint to leave. They didn't. deciding that he didn't want to have to tell them to go do something else and have to answer all the "why" questions they would surely ask, he just sighted and pulled off his shirt so he could work on his arm which had been slightly stiff that day and had decreased his speed and accuracy getting to the house's porch. The trio stared at his chest where there were countless scars. Scars around his automail, scars across his chest and stomach, and a round scar tight over his heart. Hermione was staring at his muscular, scratched body and turned away as soon as she realized what she was staring at, which also made her the first one to point out that they should leave, though she made sure to phase it differently.

"Come on Ton, Harry, we should go into the kitchen and figure out what to get for the wedding," she suggested, turning towards her two friends.

"Why? We can talk about it right h—oh, ok, sure!" Ron said, switching mid sentence at a sharp glare from the still slightly blushing Hermione.

'_Thank God'_ Ed thought as they left and he pulled off his pants, sitting in his boxers to do a check on his leg which needed a few screws tightened before he finished up on his arm and went to bed.

----------it's raining in New Mexico!-----------

The next day the group took a bus to London. This was partly because they were trying not to use magic during the search for the horcruxs, so as not to attract attention, but mostly because Ed steadfastly refused to have his molecules disassembled and _hopefully_ reassembled thousands of miles away. They also got the distinct feeling that he had started cursing in German after they had tried to convince him it was safe. Of course it also may have had something to do with the fact that Ron had pointed it out that no one had tried to apperate with someone who had prosthetic limbs before and that they might end up getting left behind, which of course also resulted in Ron getting smacked soundly over the head by a clearly pissed Hermione, complete with an anime eye twitch. Either way, they were now getting off the bus at their final destination after nine hours, five screaming children, thirteen of Ed's anti-shot tantrums, and two card games later (Ed won both times. How they figured out how to play cards in a moving vehicle is unknown even to me.). As they looked around after getting off the bus Harry pointed out a man with a black cloak and a skull mask sweeping into a dark alleyway, ignored by all the other people crowding the streets.

"Naturally. A Death Eater shows up right when we plan on being somewhere for more than one day. Should we stay and go to the wedding, or should we just swing by and give our congratulations, telling them all we can't stay and then just go look for the rest of the horcruxs?" Harry asked, clearly agitated by not being able to stay somewhere for a change.

"He can't give away our location if we don't let him go. Be right back," Ed said, moving exceptionally quietly as he swiftly followed the death eater with practiced skill. The trio followed less agilely, emerging from the crowds about two minutes later and quickly finding out it had been a trap. Ed had managed to even the odds a bit more, as he had already taken down three of the eight, but was having some trouble with the last few who were sending a range of different curses at him from _patrificus totalus_ to _Crucio_, though strangely even when the _crucio_ hit him full on he only cringed and clenched his teeth but would not scream. This managed to disconcert the Death Eaters who were by now probably wondering if this kid was even human, but it did not deter them from their attacks. Ed was sticking to using only physical attacks, not wanting these strangely dressed people to know he could use alchemy and find a way to take that advantage away from him. The trio instantly drew their wands. Two of the Death Eaters were petrified, and one of them was tossed against the wall from an _expeliarmus_ and passed out. As soon as Ed found he was no longer surrounded he was able to concentrate his attention on the two remaining Death Eaters. The two enemies and Ed were all so close together that if any of them tried to use magic to help Ed, they might end up hitting him instead, for which he would not be overly pleased with them about, so they just left him to it. He turned around as quickly as his body would let him after suffering all the impacts of the Death Eater's attacks, and gave a swift, powerful uppercut to one of the two remaining opponents. The punch had such power it lifted the man up a foot off the ground, knocking him back three feet and slamming heavily against the wall. Ed then spun around to deliver a blow to the last black-robed attacker, but before his curled up fist met it's target, there was a loud popping sound and the man/woman disappeared into thin air. Ed cursed as he sank down to the ground and let out a small, but sharp gasp before he reached up with his flesh hand, wiping the blood away from his mouth and face.

"Are you ok, Ed?" Harry asked worriedly.

"No, I'm not ok! I just let him get away, god damn it! Now there'll either be more of those bastards to make our lives hell, or even worse, Envy. God, I hate it when that happens." He said, still gritting his teeth slightly as he regained his breath, leaning against the wall of one of the alley.

"He meant if you _yourself_ were aright. You just took three _crucio_ curses right to your stomach and back!" Hermione said, voice a mixture of anger and concern.

"Huh, so that's what it was. Well, I took about two more before you three got here. It actually reminds me of what it felt like when I first got my automail, though I have to admit, it was slightly different." Ed said with a small smile as he slowly got up to his feet. It wasn't until them that any of the three noticed his automail had been transmuted into a blade, small trickles of blood still running off of it, dripping onto the ground next to him.

"Ed, did you… kill them?" Ron asked tentatively.

"Yes. Some of them I did, and the pain that comes from that is worse than the pain from those curses they sent at me."

"Then why did you?" Hermione found herself asking hoarsely as she gazed upon two dead bodies strewn across the hard ground, eyes staring vacantly through the skull masks.

"Because it was them or me, and I can't tie now. I have a promise to keep, not only to you, but to Al and Winry, and I intend to keep those promises. Ed said tersely as he transmuted the blade back into an arm and wiped off the remaining blood with the tattered shreds of what had previously been his right glove. "Six of them are still alive, and one of them got away. What do you want to do with the remaining five?" Ed asked after a ling silence as he transmuted his shredded sleeve back to normal and moving his left hand glove over to his right so as to cover his automail and looked up at Harry.

"I guess we should have the Order pick them up for questioning," Harry said, averting his eyes from the seven motionless Death Eaters. "Are you sure you'll be ok?" He asked again, noticing that Ed was now leaning heavily against the wall he had previously been sitting against.

"I just need a little rest, then I'll be fine. As long as nothing else jumps out and attacks me I should be fine. I'm just worried about the one that got away. The number one unwritten rule in the military is 'never let your enemy know where you are unless you have a trap waiting for them.' Well, not only did we let an informant get away, but we don't even have any idea on how to use this to our advantage, and even if we did, there's far too many people here that would get caught up in it somehow! Damn it! I hate it when this happens!" Ed said, bringing his left hand up in a fist and letting it swing backwards, hitting the wall with a slight thump. Hermione and Ron exchanged glances, clearly surprised that the alchemist was brushing off the pain that he must have suffered in order to beat himself up some more. Of course, they too saw the complications of their whereabouts becoming known to Voldemort, but it couldn't be helped. He had apperated away before any of them could do anything.

"Well, I guess we should get a room somewhere. We'll only be here for a few days, but we still need to re-supply on food and get some rest. Not to mention we still have a wedding to go to." Harry said, speaking up. "Ed, since you're not going anyway, would you mind standing watch?"

"Sure. No problem" Ed said, shrugging his shoulders.

"You mean we're still going after this?" Ron asked, completely shocked. Harry was about to answer but Ed beat him to it.

"Family is something that should take prescience over everything else, especially in times like these. You never know when they won't be there anymore, so always make sure that the ones that mean most to you know it, because you may never get another chance to tell them," Ed said, focusing his gaze on Ron, but only for a few seconds before he shut his eyes. "I haven't said this in a long time, but a nap would be great right about now." The trio left the alleyway after stupefying the unconscious Death Eaters and cast a hiding charm so none of the muggles would accidentally see them, and went to the nearest hotel so Harry could contact the Order to let them know what they had been up to recently and allowing Ed to sleep while Ron and Hermione scouted the area for anymore trouble. Ron took to the skies in his animagus form as Hermione searched the streets.

A/N: that's it for this chappie! Once again, sorry for any spelling mistakes you found. Once ZZ gets back I can have her do some editing for me. She is mutantly smart (and she always denies it!) and will undoubtedly catch most, if not all, of the errors in here, so after this it should be a lot better. On a very off to the side note, this chapter is dedicated to Canadian Maple Pecan fudge, cuz it rocks. That is all.

Kate: and don't forget to review!

Me: oh yes! Reviews are most wonderful. Violent muses, not so much.

Kate: HEY! Take that back! -punches hanjuuluver in the head-

Me: OWWIE! THAT HURT! –hits back- (-cat fight insues-)

Random person who appeared out of nowhere: please review before they kill each other.


	13. The Order

This chapter is dedicated to two people, first to **Amandana** cuz she was the first, and so far only, person to notice that although I said that Ed wasn't using alchemy because he didn't want anyone to notice, he still had his arm transmuted into a blade. YEAY FOR OBSERVANT PEOPLE! I noticed that too while I was writing it, but I wanted to see who would notice it, if anyone. And someone did! I'm really excited about that because the fact that someone noticed means people are actually paying attention! That's something I can't usually say, as I am and odd person and usually either a) scare everyone off before they have listened for too long, or b) people just zone out on me cuz I start rambling like I'm doing now. For anyone who was curious about the answer to the question she asked, Ed transmuted his arm before following the Death Eater into the alley, so none of them actually _saw_ him transmute it. On a different note, the second person I'm dedicating this chappie to is my best friend **Ninja Squirls** who edited this for me. THANK YOU! Also, lotsa thanks to everyone else who reviewed the last chapter. Can you believe this fic already has 61 reviews? That's so amazing! And I should stop my rambling now before someone kills me. Most likely either Kate or Ninja Squirls.

Disclaimer: I don not own the furbies dressed as Mounties that wield cheese-graters and umbrellas as their weapons. I also don't own FMA or HP. Or my sanity. I think I lost it somewhere, so if anyone finds it, please let me know.

Last chapter: the group receives an invitation to Bill and Fleur's wedding. Ed decides he will not attend. Once the group reaches London, they have a violent encounter with eight furbies—I mean Death Eaters—which results in one of the Death Eaters escaping, two of them dead, and the rest incapacitated. Harry calls the Order of the Phoenix and has the remaining Death Eaters captured, as well as briefing them about the recent activities of the trio (that last part I did not actually write about, but it was implied. Mentioning it now so confusion won't ensue later on in the chapter.)

Chapter 13: The Order

Harry and the others all arrived at the Weasley house early in the morning, finding the whole house filled with red-heads running around getting things ready for the wedding. Ron had warned them before they had come in the house that they had a really large family, and that his mother would probably have insisted that every one of them came, kind of like a family reunion. They had all understood this, but were still slightly unnerved by the sheer number of them. Despite the chaos, it didn't take long for Ron's mother to catch sight of them. Ed thought it was probably because of Harry's easily located mess of black hair in the sea of reds.

"Ron! Harry! Hermione! I'm so glad you could make it!" She exclaimed happily as she pushed her way though.

"Hi mum." Ron said, voice muffled as he was clasped into a giant hug by the woman, who was by no one's definition dainty.

"Hello Mrs. Weasley!" chorused Harry and Hermione. Ed just inclined his head in greeting.

"And you must be Edward." Mrs. Weasley said, turning her attention to him after giving the other two hugs as well. "I heard about you on the phone last night."

"Yes ma'am. I've been traveling with them for a while now and have offered my assistance in attaining their objective, and please, call me Ed, ma'am," he replied, unconsciously slipping into formal military address, complete with standing at attention and just managing to resist the urge to salute. Harry and Hermione stared at him in confusion and Ron just tried to keep from laughing. Ed, who was actually slightly taller than Mrs. Weasley (a/n: surprisingly, he had actually grown about four inches since his first trip through the gate. Ed: THANK YOU!), was saluting and she in turn was absolutely speechless, which was a rare occurrence indeed. A few other people noticed this scene, more specifically, three members of the Order of the Phoenix.

"Molly, are you alright?" asked a tired-looking man before turning to Ed and raising an eyebrow at the blond who was still standing at attention and really starting to wonder why, as he never had used the military address even when he was in the military! He decided it was because these were new people who probably had a lot more influence and intelligence than the "Ministry of Magic" he had heard about. He was shaken out of his thoughts as Harry elbowed him in the ribs discreetly as he stepped forward to great the small group who had come over to them.

"Hello everyone," he said simply, knowing this wouldn't be the joyous reunion he had pictured now that the Death Eaters had shown up in the area.

"Hello Harry, Hermione, Ron. Great to see you all again! And this must be Ed, right? Wonderful! Got a few things we've got to talk over now with all this new business!" said a woman with pink hair, electric green eyes, plaid skort, and red tank top. Ed found her appearance and peppy voice out of place with what she was saying, though she made sure that she didn't say anything that someone listening in on them could find disturbing. To them the "new business" she referred to was the wedding, though he and the rest of the group knew otherwise.

"Lead the way," Ed said conversationally, still at attention, but no longer saluting. The woman nodded and turned around, heading back into the crowd. Ed and the rest walked forward, following her distinctive clothing and hair around a corner, up some stairs, and down several side halls to a room in the verry back of the house. Harry and Hermione had never seen this room before, and by the look on Ron's face, he hadn't either.

"When did this get here?" Ron asked accusingly.

"About two years ago. It's kind of like the room of Requirement at Hogwarts, only there's only one room," The woman said excitedly as she opened the door, revealing a wood paneled room with a cherry wood table and eight matching chairs. A chandelier hung from the center of the high ceiling, casting a soft light all around the room. Moody's magical mirror that showed the reflections of his enemies in it hung on the wall behind the table, but other than that the room was empty. The tired looking man, along with another man whose mismatched and mangled face seemed hardened and calculating, sat down first, followed by Ron's mother, the pink haired woman, and last Harry and the others.

"Alright, I believe introductions are in order here." said the tired looking man, smiling kindly at Ed before continuing. "My name is Remus Lupin, this friendly looking gentleman over here to my left is Alastor Moody. I believe you already know Molly Weasley, and this is Tonks," he said, pointing to each person in turn.

"I'll get right to the point. We know nothing about you other than what Harry told us yesterday night, and considering the condition of things around here with the attacks—" Moody started, but Ed finished his sentence for him.

"You don't trust me. As far as you know I could be a follower of this Voldemort guy. I am willing to tell you everything I know of him along with anything about myself I feel is necessary. I see no reason to, nor do I have any intention of, telling you my entire life story, as it holds no significance in the matter at hand. Hopefully it will be enough to convince you that I can be trusted, if not, too bad." He said bluntly, meeting Moody's mismatched gaze head on, not flinching in the slightest when Moody's good eye narrowed at him suspiciously as his magical eye seemed to pierce straight through his being, testing the strength of both his mind and spirit, as well as his reliability; Ed's face gave away nothing as he continued on. "First, as I heard Harry tell you last night, I am not accustomed to this world, as I am from the other side of the Gate. The Gate is a thing that bridges our two worlds, and possibly others. Back in my world I am a State Alchemist for the military, and while I was there I had several encounters with a group of artificial beings called homunculi. These creatures resemble people, only they have no souls and each of them possesses a certain…talent. The homunculi can also be referred to as the seven sins. Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Pride, Wrath, Envy, and Sloth." He explained, though pain flashed across his eyes and his voice faltered slightly as he named the last. "Three of these were destroyed, two by myself. Four of them now remain, though one of them is no longer a problem as his only form of attack was striped away from him a few years back. He is now just as harmless as the ten year old he looks to be. Several days ago my brother and I were sent on a mission by our _Superior Officer_ to deal with three of the Homunculi that had appeared in one of the areas under our military's jurisdiction. I was fighting with the sin Envy when he summoned the Gate and I fell through it with him. It closed behind us, so now I have no way back, though I retained my ability to use alchemy. I went after Envy, but fell slightly behind as he, along with the other sins, have inhuman speed. When I caught up with him he had changed his form to that of this so-called 'Voldemort' and was about to attack Harry, Ron, and Hermione. If he had, I am fairly certain they would be dead by now." This last statement drew a reaction from everyone, but before anyone could continue their protest in the trio's favor he continued. "You see, even if their attacks had hit him, I'm not sure they would have any affect. This is because homunculi are more or less immortal, and can regenerate after an attack. For instance, if you stab them through the chest the hole closes up shortly after and the homuncuus remains completely unharmed. I'm not sure what the affect would be if it were a magical attack rather than an physical attack, but when you don't know the answer to something it is best to take extra precaution. As it was, I managed to intercept him first, but he dodged my attack and somehow managed to disappear without using the Gate, so I can only assume he is still in this world," Ed concluded, looking around at everyone's reactions.

"It appears that you speak the truth, but how can you speak this language so skillfully if you aren't from this world? And you're accent sounds German." Moody pointed out studiously.

"You picked up on my accent? Well, that's certainly a first; you are right in thinking that the language from another world is different, but you are also right that I have a German accent. The answer is simple, though the details are more complicated and unnecessary for your knowledge, so that will be left out. You see, I've been to this side of the Gate previously and it put me in Germany, but I managed to get back again with some help from my father, who also wound up in the same place. During my stay there I did a lot of scientific research, which required me to learn several languages to get a good range of data."

"And how is it that you're stuck here now but weren't last time?"

"That is classified information, and even if I did tell you, chances are you wouldn't like the answer." To the astonishment of everyone in the room this drew a smile from Moody, who was clearly impressed.

"You've got guts kid." The trio caught Moody's mistake immediately. 3…2…1…

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING SO SHORT HE COULD BE MISTAKEN FOR A KINDERGARTENER!" Ed ranted, waving his fist in the air as he glared daggers at Moody, who in turn surprised everyone in the room as he actually laughed deeply at the reaction from the blond.

"You remind me of myself when I was your age. Bet you're the best in the business, eh?" He asked.

"One of them, yes." Ed said as he stopped glaring and settled for just sitting there looking irked, which he was.

"Well Alastor seems to trust him, so why not?" Tonks exclaimed. The others nodded in agreement, still shocked about the idea of Moody laughing, not to mention the fact that he had just compared himself to the temperamental blond. "So, Edward—" Tonks started.

"Please, call me Ed," he corrected her.

"Right-o then Ed! But do you have any ideas on how this Envy person knew how to open this Gate of yours or how he knew about Voldemort in the first place?"

"Well, I do have a theory, but it's pretty far out there and is based off what little I know about his 'resurrection,' so to speak, in this world. Because Voldemort is the only person, as far as I know anyway, with only a small segment of a soul, and is closer than anyone else to reaching immortality, Envy was automatically transferred to him. The gate has this thing where it transfers you to the closest thing to yourself. I was sent to the body of my alter self last time I was here, but that was in 1941 during what was called World War II, I think. I worked on building V-2's and was involved in making the blueprints for the actual rockets as well, though I managed to get back through the gate in 1944, so I don't really know how anything turned out. By the way, what was the out-come of that war?"

"Hitler was defeated. Germany lost," Hermione said. She looked like she was about to go on, but Ed cut her off.

"Good. That bastard pissed me off more than the General Mustang. But that's not where I was going with this. Though work took a lot of my time, I still had a little spare time which I used trying to figure out why I had been dumped into the body that I had. What I figured out was that that body was most similar to mine and had nearly the same genetic makeup as my actual body. I also figured out that because my personality, or my spirit if you want to look at it that way, was the stronger between mine and the other Ed's, I became the dominant soul. A body can only house one soul at a time, so the soul of my alter-self most likely was left just inside the gate and was—well, I'm not going to get into that now. Point is I forced out the other spirit and soul of the body's former inhabitant because it was weaker. In Envy's new body, he's clearly the dominant spirit, so my guess is that Voldemort's spirit, though probably not his soul, is at the Gate now. Envy probably retained the soul because since the dominant soul replaces the existing one, as does the spirit, Voldemort had the only soul between them, so his soul staid. That is why Envy knew Voldemort's form and about Harry, for whom he apparently has, or should I say had, a deep hatred. He was drawn to that body because it was the closest thing to a soulless being in this world, and as he is over 400 years old, his alter-self would have had died long ago. I still don't know how he managed to disappear like that though, nor do I know how he managed to summon the Gate in the first place." Everyone took a few minutes to absorb everything Ed had just explained. Not only was it complex, though he had made sure to make it as simple as possible, but all the different questions it aroused were not overly comforting either.

"That sounds plausible. But did I hear you correctly? I believe I heard you say he was over 400 years old!"

"Yes. That is true, though I won't go into detail about how that is possible as it concerns someone who is not important in this matter and has been dead for several centuries by now." Ed said, making sure his point had been made. Lupin nodded to show he understood.

"As for how he disappeared, he probably just disapperated somewhere else." Lupin explained.

"But Ed told us that Envy couldn't do alchemy, so how could he do magic?" Harry asked the werewolf.

"It may have something to do with the fact that he now inhabits Voldemort's body, which possesses the soul of a magic user. He probably figured out how to access that power." Ed mused. For a while no one spoke, each lost in their own thoughts until Mrs. Weasley stood up from her chair.

"I'm sorry, but I really must go and help prepare for the wedding now. Ed, dear, are you going to attend?" she asked kindly.

"No, actually. I send them my best wishes and got them a gift, but due to recent events I believe I should stay out and take watch," Ed stated.

"Oh, you don't need to worry about that! Alastor's taken care of that already," she said, shooing off the thought.

"No offence intended ma'am, but I still find myself doubting the effectiveness of magic on a homunculus. Not to mention I'm more accustomed to his fighting techniques and, to be honest, he could probably slip right through all of your defense systems." Molly Weasley looked to Moody, silently asking him to tell Ed it was unnecessary, but to no avail.

"I agree with Ed. Let him do what he sees fit. Actually, you said you were in the military, correct?" Moody inquired.

"Yes. I held the rank of Colonel there." Ed replied, much to the surprise of everyone there. They were all amazed that someone so young (a/n: Ed is about 19 by the way. or at least if you counted the difference of years from when he was born in Ametris to the year it was there now. if you include his years on the other side of the gate he is about 23).

"Alright then. That settles it. Colonel Elric, I charge you with the safety fortifications for tonight during both the wedding and the reception tonight. You will have thirty personnel at your command. You must have at least one person at your own guard station at all times and must use all thirty personnel. Is that understood?" Moody said, the formality in his voice reminding Ed of Riza Hawkeye. He smiled as he stood up at attention behind his chair.

"Understood, sir. Permission to be excused and choose appropriate placement of t he troops?" The formality of their voices was thrown askew by their grins, both fully aware of the reactions of everyone else in the room, which made it rather hard for Ed not to snicker as he broke off the salute. Moody did likewise, each of them feeling a new-found bond of friendship to the other.

"Permission granted. I will have the troops sent over to you in two hours, understood?"

"Yes sir." Ed said, nodding his head and taking a blueprint of the Garden's layout from Moody before turning sharply on his heals and walking out of the room. Harry, Ron and Hermione exchanged confused glances and filed out behind him only to find Ed leaning on the wall right outside of the door, laughing silently to himself. When they asked him what was so funny, all Ed would say was, "He knew!" and then laugh some more.

-------hay un mono en me cuarto--------

After looking over the blueprints for a few moments, Ed had picked the front gate for himself and one auror, knowing that Envy would go for the most obvious, but most dramatic entrance he could, and what was more dramatic than strolling in through the front gate? The Garden itself was quite large, so Ed placed four men inside it and had them patrol the perimeters of the wall, so that if Envy did manage to get past everyone and into the Gardens, there would be someone there to notify him immediately. The rest of the aurors were positioned fifteen feet away from each other. All this was decided in about thirty minutes, so that left Ed with over an hour of extra time before he would meet his "troops." During that time he answered a few questions the trio had about his life during WWII and his experience with rockets. Hermione also told Ed all about what happened during the war that he had not been told about, either because of government cover-ups or because he had left before the final part of it. During that time he had taken off his long sleeved shirt and just wore a tank-top, because it was about 98 degrees outside and wasn't too much better inside. He hadn't bothered to put it back on for when the thirty aurors came, as he decided they might as well know. It wasn't like he would have to explain it to them after all.

Moody himself came to supervise it and to go over Ed's security plans as well as to see what he would do with the aurors on their first encounter. He raised a brow at Ed's automail but said nothing, for which Ed was grateful. Once all thirty people had come in Ed said only two things.

"Now attack me. No magic allowed." Three men complied immediately, two of them Ed dodged, the third he attempted to hit, but the man dodged out of the way and threw a left punch at the same time. Ed caught the fist before it could make contact with him and placed another arm under the man's left arm and flipped him over onto his back. By this time the rest started coming at him in groups of eight, but even in the groups none were a match for Ed, though about twelve of them showed talent. Ed decided he would place these people at every other station and choose the third man who he had flipped to work alongside him. Moody nodded his approval as he walked out and disappeared down the hall. By that time it was 4:30; the wedding was to start at seven and would last an hour, then everyone would go back to the Weasley house to wait until the reception. Under normal circumstances the two would have been back to back, but Fleur had wanted the reception to be at night, "under ze stars." Ed had cursed his luck at that, but he would have to live with it. Ed decided to take a nap so that he wouldn't be tempted to sleep on the job, which could be costly. As he drifted off to sleep, memories of Al, Winry, and his mother filled his peaceful dreams as he slept, a welcome break from the feverish nightmares he had been having in recent nights.

A/N: well, there ya have it! Sorry it took so long to get it up. I'm a lazy ass, as anyone who knows me will immediately agree to, most likely while tacking on some added insults. I'm just so loved, aren't I? lol… anywho, reviews are awesome, and if you have any questions, those are awesome too.


	14. Brothers

IT'S NOT MY FAULT! THE DAMN COMPUTER WOULDN'T LET ME UPLOAD! DON'T KILL ME WITH A MACHETE! Now that that's over with, a few words from my fabulous editor, Ninja Squirrels.

Damn you! Why are you making me write this? I have absolutely nothing to say, you mangy cur.

Gee thanks. I feel so loved. Yah, that's about it. OH! Morton's Very Evil Monkey Just Stabbed Uncle Norris! That is all.

Disclaimer: thou shalt not steal the ownership of FMA or HP, for thou art an idiot, and obsessed with anime. (that applies to me… and my muse. Kate: HEY! I am _not_ an idiot! A tad bit homicidal perhaps, but not an idiot! Me: sure……)

Last chapter: Ed met with the Order, and Mad Eye Moody put him in control of the security during the wedding and the reception.

Ed got up an hour before his guard duty, making sure that all the aurors at his disposal knew a) what to do when things start blowing up around you (and knowing Envy they probably would be) b) to be careful to check that everyone is really who they say they are because the enemy can shape-shift c) if they fell asleep on the job he would make their lives a living hell, and d) if he heard someone call him a pint-sized bean sprout one more time they would wish they were lucky enough to have the same fate as the guy who fell asleep on the job (no one was brave enough to tell the fuming blond that nobody had said such a thing, all agreeing he was just as scary as Moody, if not more so). After that was finished he stationed everyone strategically around the perimeter, placed four inside the walls, and took his place by the front gate with the auror he had chosen to take guard with him, named Jared. Ed quickly found out he wasn't the quickest thinking one of the bunch. More brawn than brain, and that was saying something as the man was about as strong as Fury or Havoc. At least _they_ could be counted on in a tough situation. This guy he wasn't too sure of. If he did end up in a battle with Envy instead of more Death Eaters, he thought, he would just knock Jared out. That way he couldn't get in his way. With that in mind Ed settled down for one heck of a long night.

------I love fudge-----the food/candy stuff------not the fat guy from HP---------

The wedding had come and gone. They had all gone back to the Weasley house for a few hours before the reception started. That had started about an hour ago. Ed was bored out of his mind. After a while he just started letting his mind drift off in reflection on the dreams he had had the previous night (though he made sure to keep his mind clear enough so as not to be caught off guard by Envy or any Death Eaters, or worse still, both). He thought of his brother for a long time, wondering if he had managed to get away from the remaining homunculi. Ed couldn't help but feel guilty for not only abandoning his brother again and leaving him in such a dangerous situation, but also because he had hardly thought about him at all recently, and when he had it was only during his nightmares. He grimaced slightly and told himself not to think about that as he shifted his thoughts to Winry. It seemed strange that only a little over a week ago he had been in Rizumbul with her. He smiled fondly as he recalled that night, reliving it in his mind.

It was almost seven at night in the quiet town where Ed had grown up during the only childhood he had known. He had started making a habit of stopping by at least once a month since he had come back from Germany, both to re-visit his mother's grave, and to visit Winry. This particular night he had gone off without Al. He had been gone for almost three hours now, reflecting over recent events and staring down at his own grave. The Rockbells had put it here once he had been gone for over two years. Although they were some of the very few people who knew what Ed's fate had been, they hadn't given up their hope, not even after putting in a tombstone to mark his empty grave that sat next to his mother's. He was lost in thought when a small, delicate, but strong hand had laid itself softly on his shoulder. He stiffened and whirled around quickly, automail arm flashing in the light of the sun that had almost set, expecting to see an enemy. He calmed when he caught sight of the blond ponytail and soft, searching sky-blue eyes.

"Oh, Winry. It's you. I didn't hear you coming."

"Granny started wondering where you were after a while and sent me to get you," she lied. The truth was she had been worrying about him ever since he hadn't come back for dinner, but Pinako had told her to wait an hour or two for him, and she had grudgingly agreed, though she left as soon as she got a chance.

"I see." Ed said, before they both fell silent for a few minutes, staring at the two graves together.

"Winry, I…" Ed started, turning around to face her, but catching himself as he caught her eyes, only a few feet from his.

"Yes, what is it, Ed?" she asked, seeing his hesitation, but not knowing why. He took a deep breath to steady himself before continuing.

"When… when I was on the other side of the Gate, I had a lot of time to think," He started, not quite sure how to say what he was trying to tell her. She stood there, listening intently with the same look in her eyes as when she worked on his automail. This was the first time he had talked about the other side since he had gotten back, so she waited for him to continue. "I thought a lot about everyone back here at home. Al, Pinako, Old Den, but the person I missed the most was… well, it was you. Winry, I… I love you." He said softly, letting all his barriers down and looking at her in such honesty and passion that her breath was caught in her throat. For as long as she could remember he had never been that straight-forward at saying things, and usually the only time they talked, ever since he left home when he was eleven, was when they were fighting, but what was the most amazing was that she had just heard him tell her that he felt the same way about her as she had felt about him for years.

"Oh, Ed! I love you too!" she said, wrapping her arms around him, trying to convince herself this was all real, not just another of those wonderful dreams she would sometimes have. Ed stiffened for a moment at the sudden contact, but soon relaxed himself into her embrace, hugging back. "I've been waiting so long for you to say that. Ever since you went to save me from Barry the Chopper, I knew I wanted to be able to comfort you like Al could, that you would come to me and tell me what you were feeling, but you never did, Ed, you never did!" Winry said, sobbing slightly as she buried her face into Ed's chest. "After that the only times I would see you were when you came back to get your automail fixed, which meant you must have gotten hurt, but you would never _tell me!_ I was always so worried about you and then the next thing I knew I was told you were dead! And I never even got to say goodbye! And… and now…" she said, suddenly finding herself confessing all her hidden fears and worries for the past six years.

"I'm sorry, Winry. I never meant to hurt you," Ed said, pulling her closer, letting her long, golden hair slide over his arms as he held her, wishing he could stay with her like that forever. But that was impossible with his current occupation, and after so many years serving the military, he couldn't ever imagine doing anything else.

"Just promise me one thing, Edward." Winry said firmly, not moving from his arms.

"Anything."

"Promise me you'll come back to me."

"I promise," He said firmly, but lovingly as they walked back to the Rockbell house together, holding hands.

All he could think about now was that he had broken that promise, and his promise to always be there for his brother, and he hated himself for it. But he was forcefully jerked out of his thoughts at the sound of Jared calling out into the dark woods that lay just beyond the Gardens.

"Who's out there!" he demanded. Ed scoffed. As if anyone who was an enemy would actually answer that truthfully. To his surprise, someone _did_ answer, and what he heard shocked him.

"Ed? Ed is that you? It's me! Winry!"

"W—Winry?" stuttered Ed in disbelief. It couldn't be! She was still on the other side of the gate! Unless…

A figure emerged from the darkness, the silvery moon that hung above them lighting her hair like a soft golden candle, her eyes shining like diamonds…no, that was his imagination. Those were not her eyes. They lacked all the brilliance of her soul as well as the sharpness that mirrored her sharpness of mind, and even sharper tongue. He narrowed his eyes.

"Cut the act, Envy!" he shouted angrily.

"Envy? Isn't that the homunculus you told us about? Is he here too?" asked Winry, concern evident in her voice as she continued to move towards him. Jared stood back, watching her procession in complete and utter confusion.

"Yes, he is. He's going by the name, 'Voldemort' now. Some hell of a name, huh? Amazing how close it sounds to 'Moldywart,' isn't it?" he said, smirking openly at his quickly developed plan to find the truth. Envy had always been a show-off, and didn't react well to criticism, especially when it came from the son of his hated father and creator. If it was really Winry, then she would probably laugh or throw a wrench at him, but if it was Envy…

Just as he had expected.

"Oh yeah!" Winry retorted as her form started to shift and mold into that of Envy's, green hair springing from the formerly blond ponytail, which also disappeared. "Well at least I'm not a midget-sized chibi!"… or not.

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING A BUG SO SMALL HE'D DROWN IN A DROP OF WATER!" Ed ranted, not even bothering to restrain himself from a flurry of punches aimed at the enraged homunculus's face.

"Good idea!" Envy exclaimed, a rather large bucket of water appearing in his hands. Before Ed could dodge the incoming attack, the wave of water was tossed out of the bucket, thoroughly drenching him.

"You bastard!" Ed screamed, not even bothering to dry himself off as he quickly took off his drenched shirt so it couldn't impede his speed (a/n: hehe… inside joke…)

"I'll help you Mr. Elric, sir!" shouted Jared as he took out his wand.

"Don't even think about it! He's mine!" an enraged Ed declared, smacking Jared against the wall and knocking him unconscious so he couldn't call for backup. Ed had a score to settle with the homunculus, and the Gate would be free of charge before he let Envy get away from him.

Envy leapt agilely over the tall brick wall, heading towards the reception. Ed just transmuted a hole going right through it. He leapt over bushes and flowers, dodged numerous trees (all the while cursing his luck and reminding himself to make a more convenient path through there once he was through with Envy) while he followed the flash of movement he knew to be his enemy. Suddenly, he was freed from the jungle that was the Gardens, and directly in front of him stood his opponent.

"Finally ready to fight instead of run away?" Ed said scathingly.

"Who ever said I was running away? I just thought you would appreciate a more open battle ground."

"Let's cut the bullshit and get down to the fighting, you overgrown palm tree."

"Gladly." Envy said, his arm forming into a spear as Ed transmuted his arm into the familiar blade, guaranteeing that a blow would do more than knock a little air out of the opponent's lungs. Ed made the first move, springing up into the air and spinning around to land his left foot into the homunculus's face, making sure to avoid the spike that was his arm as he did a back flip and landed behind Envy.

"Just curious, how do you intend to kill me? After all, you do of course realize I'll be harder to get rid of than Greed or Lust," Envy pointed out as he dropkicked the blond alchemist.

"I'll get to that when I feel like it! For now I just wanna kick your ass!" Ed said, jumping back to avoid the leg that shot out at him. Envy pursued him, giving an uppercut to the boy's chin, which wasn't missed by more than a quarter of an inch.

"Is that so? Well, good luck with that!" Envy sneered, following his first punch with another. This one didn't miss its mark, and it sent Ed flying backward. Ed skidded across the brick on his back, ignoring the pain as he quickly rolled over to avoid a kick to the face and clapped his hands, transmuting a spike which pinned Envy to a nearby tree as it pierced his stomach. Blood leaked out of Envy's mouth as he smirked.

"Very impressive, but still not enough I'm afraid," he said, licking his own blood off his lips for a moment, as if savoring the taste, before he slammed his arm down into the spike, breaking it in one blow. Slowly Envy drew the spike out of his body and looked at it for a moment, resembling an art collector musing over a fine piece he is considering buying. In a flash the spike was out of his hands and heading straight for Ed.

"Oh shit!" Ed cursed, dodging it as he jumped backwards and over to his left, into another grove of bushes and trees. He quickly decided to look for another clearing for the fighting, not having any intention of going back and walking towards the one who wanted to kill him. He would follow anyway.

Sure enough Envy came crashing through behind him.

"Come back, little chibi! We're not done with our fight just yet!"

"NO SHIT SHERLOCK!" Ed fumed, using his sword arm to attack Envy, who blocked the blade with his own arm, which was incredibly hard considering it should have been flesh. Envy pushed with extra force, causing Ed to jump back to avoid having his stomach sliced open. The two became so engrossed in their battle they didn't even notice when the clearing started getting closer, people walking around having light conversation as if nothing was out of the ordinary. Well, at least until they were abruptly interrupted as the two came crashing out into the open.

"Come now, Ed. Is this any way to treat your own brother?" Envy asked, shifting to his 'real face,' hoping to unnerve the blond.

"You may have been my father's son, but that sure as hell doesn't make you my brother!" Ed shouted, slashing at the man's face, which healed instantly as the face changed to that of Alphonse, just the way he had looked before Ed had gone through the gate with Envy.

"Yet you had no problem sacrificing your own brother, or leaving him to die back there when he needed you most. You certainly aren't a very good sibling, are you? Chasing off your own father, condemning your mother to live the life of a soulless minion under Dante's control, and abandoning your precious Winry. You have to admit, your track record's not that great either." Envy said nonchalantly as he stared at a temporarily immobile Ed, who was so overcome with guilt and loss he had become lost in himself, only coming back to life as Envy's spiked arm drove into the flesh above his shoulder, ripping a large gash across it which immediately started bleeding.

"You stay out of it! And stop talking like you know what it's like! You have no idea what I've been through!"

"Oh, quite on the contrary Edward," Envy said, stepping to the side to dodge a right punch from Ed's bladed arm, and then jumping back to avoid a roundhouse kick made out of desperation. "I probably understand you better than anyone else does."

"Shut up!" Ed said viciously, pulling a gun out from a side pocket of his pants and firing a round directly into the homunculus's head. The wounds took about thirty seconds to heal, though it seemed like an eternity. By now a large group had assembled to watch what was going on. Everyone was horrified and sickened by the sight, but at the same time, no one could manage to make themselves turn away. Harry, Hermione, and Ron were included in the group, and though they, like several others, wanted to help Ed, they knew this was something he would want to do on his own. None of them though, were prepared for the reaction the next face provoked out of Ed.

"Mom…" he said, sinking down to his knees, wincing in pain slightly as the hard brick ground connected firmly with his scraped-up knee. "No, no you can't be her! She's already dead! And I killed her. You're just using your _twisted_ mind games to GET TO ME AGAIN!" Ed shouted, getting back up again and charging at Envy, "I told you never to do that again, damn it!" the cry went out as Envy was once again impaled, only this time by Ed's own outstretched right arm, blood flowing down the cold metal and staining the skin around his arm red.

"So you did, but I'm the older brother." Envy said simply as he smirked, then disappeared with a loud crack.

"YOU'RE NOT MY BROTHER!" Ed's voice rang out, piercing the silence of the dark night with a voice so sharp with pain and laced with anger that even after the sound of it was muffled by the foliage and died away, the words still seemed to be hanging there, even though the man they had been directed at was long gone. Finally, the trio stepped up to their friend as Ron placed a hand on Ed's right shoulder, the one with-out the large gash, trying to ignore that he was still touching Envy's blood.

"Ed, he's gone now." Those four words soothed Ed's mind; though he was still far from the point of accepting of what had just happened, he knew that at least he had friends to help him though it. However, he also knew that if they were there now, they had probably heard the accusations Envy had thrown at him, which would mean they would ask him to explain sooner or later, but they would wait. At least until the wounds, both mental and physical, weren't quite so fresh.

A/N: All of you out in Readerland – Review, review, review! Otherwise she will sic her legions of Furby Mountie Ninja Assassins, armed with umbrellas and cheese graters on you! Don't laugh! I've seen her do it!

This message brought to you by Ninja Squirrels


	15. I'M IMPORTANT!

I need some help here. I need to know which horcrux to have Ed and the others go after next, as well as where it should be (in terms of location, like mansion, cave, hotel, pocket of some random bum, etc.) and what sort of things should be put up to protect it. Here's a list of the horcruxs remaining (thanks Hedwig! You have no idea how many times I've referenced this in the fic!)

1) Voldemort's snake

2) Ravenclaw's cup

3) The locket that was taken and replaced in the 6th book (not quite sure how that one would work out, but if enough people want it I can try to come up with something).

Alrighty, that's it for now. but if you just so happen to know any I left out that you want (other than the one that was a clue from Gryffindor's house. That will be the last (or possibly second to last) horcrux they look for) then tell me what it is and I'll put it in somewhere. So now please please please please **_PLEASE_** tell me what you all want so I can continue this, other wise it'll take a lot longer for me to update the next chapter cuz I don't know what I'm doin. Send it in a review or a PM. Thanks!


	16. Confessions

**OMG! **I can't believe how many responses I got when I asked what to do next! That was absolutely amazing! Though I was torn between the snake and the cup, both of which were suggested, I decided to go with the cup for purposes of working up and doing more and more difficult horcrux's as the story goes on. But most of the suggestions are _defiantly _going to be used! I suddenly know what I'm doing, which is a cause to celebrate, as it doesn't happen very often. As more than one person who has met me can attest to.

Carlos: sí. Es cierto, porque ella esta un chica mucha loca.

Kate: agreed! And for those of you who are incredibly confused right now, Carlos is hanjuuluver's Spanish-speaking alter-ego. He speaks Spanish.

Me: wow, really! My Spanish-speaking alter-ego speaks Spanish! Never woulda guessed!

Kate: shut up and get on with the story already.

Me: fine, fine. Spoil sport…

Kate: -glares at hanjuuluver-

Carlos: rolls his eyes

Me: oh! and review replies for the previous "chapter" are at the bottom of this! Please read them if you reviewed cuz I have to thank you again!

Kate: GET ON WITH THE FIC ALREADY, DAMN IT! -pulls out retractable machete-

Disclaimer: Until the day that the combined forces of furby ninja assassins and ducks take over the world, making ZZ their queen, I will not own either FMA or HP.

Last chapter: Envy appears during the wedding reception and Ed and Envy fight each other.

Chapter 15: Confessions…

After Ed's "joyous reunion" with his half brother Envy, whatever happy atmosphere there had been during the wedding reception had now left, along with all the people. Everyone had left, going back to their own homes after the… incident… and Ed found himself in one of the many vacated chairs, surrounded by Harry, Ron, Hermione, and the members of the Order.

'_As if I don't feel bad enough after all that bastard's twisted mind games, now I have to face these guys who actually trusted me, regardless of the fact that they knew I wasn't telling them everything, and now they find out like this that I'm actually related to that homicidal palm-tree. God knows what else they overheard…' _ thought Ed dispiritedly as he gave a sigh of resignation. "Before you start bombarding me with questions, which I have no doubt you will, let me start out by saying this. Everyone in my family has, or had, issues except for my mother. Also know that the reason I didn't want to tell any of you this information about me is you don't deserve to know. Not because you're 'not good enough,' but just the opposite. None of you have ever done anything to hurt me. You haven't done anything wrong, and far from being a reward, this knowledge is more like a punishment."

"Ed, that's nonsense. There's no such thing as too much knowledge." Hermione stated, putting a reassuring hand on Ed's left shoulder.

"Heh. Funny you should say that. I used to believe the same thing. Ok… so, you still want to know?" He asked, looking around at everyone gathered around him. They all nodded solemnly in assent. "Alright then. So. Well, I guess the best place to start is by telling you that my father is over 400 years old, and responsible for thousands of deaths."

"Ed… you're not making any sense. How could your father be over 400? I mean, you can't be any older than 17! Not to mention no one could live that long!" Hermione interrupted, looking bewildered. Even Harry was shocked at this. Ed had never mentioned his farther except for saying that he had left him and his brother when they were little, and vaguely mentioning that it had been his father who had helped him get back to his own world the first time he had crossed over during the war.

"Not that it matters, but I'm actually both 19 and 23, due to my time spent in both worlds, but that doesn't answer your question. The answer lies in the Philosopher's Stone," he responded dryly.

"What do you know about the stone?" Moody asked sternly. Ed sighed before continuing.

"A better question would be what _don't_ I know. You see, many of the laws required to use alchemy, including, or so legend says, human transmutation, can be bypassed with the it. Due to this, the Stone is highly coveted, for both power and misplaced hopes. Hermione." Hermione jumped at her name suddenly being brought into the story, but locked eyes with Ed, telling him she was listening. "Do you remember what I told you when we were in Godric's Hollow?"

"Yes… wait, you don't mean…"

"Yes. My father created a Philosopher's Stone. Not once, but several times. He used it to jump from body to body. The first time he created a stone was about 400 years ago. At the time he was with a woman named Dante, and they had a child together. However, their son died later of Mercury poisoning, and they wanted to bring him back. Like me, they attempted human transmutation, but they, like me, forgot one thing. There is no replacement for a soul. The flesh can become animated, but the creature produced will be soulless. The result was the Homunculus known as Envy. They wanted to fix their mistake, and bring back Envy's soul. Both of them believed if they could forge a Stone they would be able to do this, and so they slaughtered thousands of people to do it, using the lives forfeited during the Salem witch trials and executions. However, in order to refine the stone, the alchemist creating it, or holding an incomplete one, sacrifices much of his own soul to the task. By the time it was complete, my father was on the brink of death. Desperate, Dante used the stone to transfer his soul to the body of a man who was passing by. Upon discovering how well it worked, She and Hoenheim, my father, created countless more stones, creating the effect of making them almost immortal." Ed took a pause before continuing.

"That is how he later became my father. About thirty years ago he met my mother, and they got married. Not long after my little brother Al was born, he left us. Five years after that my mother died, and he wasn't even there to be by her side, or even at the funeral. Because of this, our mother was all my brother and I had, and we swore that we would bring her back. Using alchemy. We managed to find a teacher, and we were her students for one long, hard year. The night we came back we performed the transmutation, but it went horribly wrong. The Gate appeared in front of us, and it opened. Then whatever those creatures are that lurk behind it reached out and grabbed hold of Al, consuming his body and my left leg. After they had eaten away at us, Al was gone, and I had a bleeding stump of a leg. And then there, in the middle of the circle where my mother's new transmuted body should be was a hideous lump of pulsing flesh. It was horrible. The only thing I could think of for a few moments was 'what have I done' and then 'Al. I have to get you back. No mater what.' And so I sacrificed my right arm to bring his soul back from the Gate. It hadn't been long after it had been taken, so it couldn't have gone through yet. The only thing I could find to bind his soul to was an empty suit of armor in the corner of the room. An empty shell that soon became the vessel for his soul for the next seven years. What happened between then and now is irrelevant, except for the fact that I got automail replacements for my missing limbs shortly after the failed transmutation and a few months later took the Alchemy Exam and became a State Alchemist. During that time I learned of the homunculi and fought with them more times than I care to recall." He shuddered slightly, completely lost in thought as he just let the words flow off his tongue.

"In our last battle, when all the homunculi were still alive, well, other than Sloth, who had been the result of my failed transmutation. I had killed her already. Just because she looked like my mom didn't mean she was. Anyway, back to the subject at hand, during that fight my brother had been taken and was going to be used to create the stone. The reason for this was that his body had somehow managed to become the house of the stone, and Dante wanted to use him to jump bodies again to a girl named Rose. It was during this battle that Envy impaled me through the chest. After I died, Al sacrificed himself to bring me back to life. Once again I knew I couldn't go on without him, and if only one of us could live, I knew it had to be him. Because of this I sacrificed myself to the Gate, and it took me. I ended up in Germany in the year 1942 or 43. I stayed there for a few years with my dad, who had ended up there as well. We didn't talk about how. It wasn't important. I told you I had help getting back to my world, and I wasn't lying. 'In order to receive, something of equal value must be lost.' My father sacrificed himself for me, and it worked. Why, I'm not exactly sure, as alchemy didn't work on that side of the gate before. I'm not even quite sure how it does now. Anyway, his sacrifice sent me to the other side of the Gate. Only about a year or two had passed on that side, and you already know what happened after that. So… now you know."

Silence reigned over the group, the weight of it all sinking down on top of them. It was a long time before anyone spoke, and the one who did was Hermione.

"Ed… I'm sorry. I didn't know…"

"Not many people do." Ed said, eyes obscured by his long golden bangs.

"So how do you intend to go back now?" Moody asked, gruff voice subsiding slightly as he addressed the youth.

"Not that way. I will find another way to get back to Al. No matter what it takes. That is my first and foremost priority. If I had more time I could look for some sort of magical solution to the problem, but fact is I don't. Just because helping Harry and the others isn't my first priority, I still made a promise, and so I can't give up on them now. Besides, who knows how much trouble those three would get into without me!" Ed said jokingly, trying to lighten the atmosphere. All he was rewarded with was a smack to the back of the head by Hermione. "OW! Hey! That hurt ya know!" He said, glaring at the smirking girl who was standing behind him.

"Well, I believe that settles that, so how about we all go and get a good night's sleep. Or should I say morning?" Tonks asked, looking at her watch, which read 12:01.

"Of course! Everyone is welcome to come back to the Burrow with Arthur and I. I couldn't imagine having any of you trying to find a hotel room at this ungodly hour! "Mrs. Weasley declared in all her overprotective mothering compassion. The group agreed and everyone walked back to the house (once again because Ed had firmly refused to allow anyone to apperate with him).

A/N: ok, I know that was a short chapter, but school sucks. I blame too much homework. And my editor NinjaSquirls. Can you believe she had this chapter for **_A WHOLE WEEK_** before she edited it today at lunch while I beat her with a stick? Well, technically it was a twig… a really small one. BUT I DID BEAT HER WITH IT! Don't kill me! Blame her! On to the multiple thank yous!

**Vivid reader: **That is an amazingly awesome good idea! -Starts doing happy dance-

**Shadowlover101: **the snake seems rather popular!

**Monkey Mist Robo: **ohh…… under water cave! Fun!

**DaRLinG1357: **yeay for randomness! You have no idea how you're randomness improved my previously crappy day.

**Kuro tenshi: **thanks!

**Totallyinlovewithed: **please don't tell Ed I called him short! I updated! Just for you! Don't kill me! –hides in corner-

**Epobbp: **good idea. I think I'll do that! XD

**Terra: **THANK YOU THANK YOU A THOUSAND TIMES THANK YOU! Now I can actually do something with magical creatures and make it a bit more challenging than playing follow the leader. I was kinda disappointed in my ideas for traps…… I'll defiantly use those!

**H: **ummm… I've already got one for Hogwarts planed out. it won't be for a while, but it's there!

**Deamon Lord Sesshomaru:** wow! I think that's the most words I've got from you yet! I feel so special! XD jk… good idea though. I'll keep it in mind.

**Frogger666:**

**Lyemi:** that really is a good idea. Makes me wonder why I didn't think of it… lol…


	17. of wands and randomness

Guess what? I actually started writing this chapter while my editor, NinjaSquirls was editing the last chapter! And while I was actually supposed to be doing my History homework… oh well. Yay for procrastination! Ummm… at this point I don't really know what's going to happen in this chapter, because this story's kinda been writing itself lately… well, enjoy!

Last chapter: Ed tells the Aurors about himself and his relationship with Envy.

Disclaimer: Kate: We don't own FMA or HP, and if anyone tries to say otherwise! –Brandishes stick menacingly-

Chapter 16: of wands and randomness

Ed had left early the next morning, long before anyone else had woken up, and slowly walked down the stairs of the old, well worn house, cursing silently at the squeaking stairs and the slight thump that sounded, no matter _how_ lightly he stepped, when he set down his left foot. Over his right shoulder he had slung his black backpack, which held his change of clothes, the journal of Godric Gryffindor, and several bottles of whiskey. _'If Mrs. Weasley wasn't so… so… **motherly **I wouldn't have to sneak out of the house to do this, but God damn it! She makes me feel so god damned guilty about it!'_ he thought, growling softly in annoyance. He paused at the bottom of the stairs, glad that at least now he had gone past all the bedrooms, but he thought he heard something in the kitchen. _'Well, might as well get this over with.'_

He turned the corner and walked into the kitchen, eyes flickering all over the room to try to find the source of the sound. He didn't find any people, just one large orange… it was a cat, wasn't it? He couldn't be too sure, but he knew Al would have loved the thing. "Al..." He said sadly; an image of a large suit of armor flashed though his mind, than the brother he had been reunited with after returning from Germany, the one with a fully-functioning, flesh-and-blood body he had sacrificed so much to get for him… "Later," he said firmly, stepping out the kitchen door and carefully closing it behind him, making sure not to let it make any noise, before vanishing into the darkness outside.

Earlier that day, when they had first come to the Weasley house, he had noticed a small grove of pine trees over a hill next to the house, so he headed in that direction, no longer bothering to be quiet. He needed to go on a run anyway, and now that Mrs. Weasley had healed the wounds inflicted on him by Envy, he felt like he just needed some exercise. The run didn't take him long, though it did take longer than it normally would have because he didn't want to break the bottles in this back pack, thus not only losing the whiskey, but also destroying the Journal. Once he finally entered the dark grove he stopped a moment, letting his eyes adjust to the blackness that had completely enveloped him, and then walked a few feet to get further in so he could be out of sight once the sun rose.

"I just hope no one comes looking for me. They should know by now that I have no intention of abandoning them. I just need to be by myself to think this over, and there's no way I would get that with those three. Harry and Ron maybe, but that Hermione girl really needs to learn when to just shut up. She's a good kid, but a little clueless sometimes," He announced to no one in particular as he set down the bag and slumped down next to it, leaning his back up against a tall pine. He sat there for a minute, taking in all the details of his surroundings, and then turned his attention back to the task at hand. He reached over to his bag, unzipped it, and pulled out a bottle of his whiskey and the Journal. His reason for going off on his own wasn't to drink. No, he was going to figure out as much about Gryffindor as he could. The whiskey was only there because he had a strong feeling he would need it once he got started with his reading.

Ed opened up the journal, turned to the first page and started scouring the page for anything important. Nothing. Just a few notes on the basic rules of Alchemy. The man must have started the notebook when he first started learning Alchemy, the blond reasoned. At least nothing important would be left out. He moved on to the next page. Basic circles. Next, a circle for each of the elements, though he noticed the one for fire was slightly different. "The humidity of the air must be different here," he mused, now beginning to voice his thoughts as he continued reading. "Something about some chick called Rowena telling him about an idea for a 'Wizarding School" and wanted to know if he would help. More alchemy notes. Him saying yes to helping… Ha! She dumped him! Karma… more notes, blabidy blabidy blah… new girlfriend named… Wait! No! It couldn't be… could it? Dante… so she's been to this side too… but this is… it's dated… could he be?"(1) He needed a drink. Now. Ed's arm shot out for the bottle next to him and uncorked it in a flash of a white gloved thumb. He took several long swigs of the amber liquid before dropping the Journal and opting to use the hand to smack himself in the face. "God, why is it that no matter where I go Dante has to come up somewhere!" He shouted, clearly pissed. "Screw reading that journal. I've found out enough information to ruin the rest of the week. I'll read the rest later when I don't feel like throttling someone," he said, violently picking up the book and tossing it back into his bag along with the bottle of whiskey (after he recapped it). Grabbing the bag, he started back towards the house. The sun was just starting to come up, so he needed to get going anyway. "Life hates me." He concluded to himself as he walked.

--------faster than a speeding sloth on a sugar high-----------

When Ed entered the house he found Molly Weasley already awake and bustling around the kitchen getting breakfast ready.

"Morning Mrs. Weasley," he said, waving to her as he tried to walk by without getting pulled into a conversation.

"Well good morning Ed! You sure are up early, aren't you? Where were you just now?" She asked, turning around to face him as the pancakes in the skillet continued to flip themselves. Ed resisted the urge to twitch.

"I just went on a walk. I needed to clear my thoughts," he said, coming up with something as quickly as he could.

"Oh, dear I can't blame you. That must have been so hard for you to tell everyone last night," she said, coming over to him and sweeping him up into her motherly arms. Ed stiffened slightly, though it seemed that she hadn't noticed._ 'This is awkward…'_ he thought, although he couldn't say that what she said wasn't true. He pulled back slightly and she let go.

"It's not that, I just… I'm not very used to being around people so often. For so long it was just me and Al, and words were never really needed between us. Now that I'm traveling with Ron and the others I don't get much time to myself just to think. That's all," he said with a shrug, trying to convince her that he was fine. Mrs. Weasley looked at him skeptically, but he smiled slightly and she smiled back.

"Alright then. I'm just making breakfast. The first batch should be ready soon, dear. What would you like to drink?"

"Coffee would be great, thanks." As he said this a coffee cup and a pot of coffee began to pour themselves.

"Cream or sugar?"

"Black, please." Ed said, still staring at the floating cup.

"Oh my! You certainly like it strong, don't you? How early did you get up this morning?" She asked, levitating the cup over to Ed.

"Just a couple hours ago," Ed said vaguely, taking the cup. Molly was just about to say something when Ed was saved by Harry stumbling groggily down the stairs.

"Morning Harry!" Ed said over-enthusiastically as he ran over to Harry's side.

"Ed? Wadderu doin up soerly…" Harry slurred (translation: Ed? What are you doing up so early?). Ed guessed the sleep deprivation had finally caught up to the black-haired teen. Poor guy…

"I could ask the same of you. You clearly aren't awake yet. Why don't you just go back up to bed? I think I'll go too. I need to… uhhh… let's just go. Thanks for the coffee!" He shouted behind him as he dragged Harry back up the stairs, being careful not to spill the hot cup of caffeine on his way.

By the time they gotten up the stairs, Harry was fully awake (a fate that is rather hard to avoid when being dragged up about two flights of stairs by a short alchemist running like a bat out of hell). Even so, all he could manage to say as he rubbed the back of his poor abused head that had been slammed against so many steps on their way there, was "Eh?"

"Don't ask."

"Uhh…"

"You ok?"

"Been better. You?" Harry asked, looking up at the blond.

"Same," Ed said, drinking his coffee and throwing off his backpack.

"Went out or something?"

"Yah. I went out and read through some of that journal we found."

"Did you find anything important?" Harry asked, looking up curiously at Ed.

"Not much. I didn't get too far. It only had basic formulas, compositions, and simple circles in it. Nothing of much interest."

"I see." Harry said, knowing full well that Ed was hiding something. "Anything else?"

"No." Ed said in a voice that unquestionably signified the end of the conversation as he stood up and walked over to a window, the sun's orange light shining on his hair as he looked off into the distance. _'He'll talk about it when he's ready. I'm sure if it was something important to our goal he would tell us; so as long as it doesn't affect us, we can wait,'_ Harry reasoned as he looked over at his new friend.

Two hours later everyone had gotten up and was sitting around the table eating the pancakes Mrs. Weasley had made. The members of the Order had also stayed the night, so no light conversation would be exchanged over the table that morning. Instead, they discussed possible whereabouts of the remaining horcruxs. The only one the Order had found a lead on was Ravenclaw's cup, and they had deduced it to be somewhere in Avon, just east of Wales. They also mentioned that that was where Ollivander was said to have moved. He had sent them a letter just a short while ago saying that he was alright, and would refuse to make any more wands for Death Eaters so long as he was still alive. This was a relief to the Order, as it meant their opponents would not have a continual source of top quality wands, and they suggested that while the group was there Ed could get a wand. After all, he had admitted he was interested in learning magic, and it would be imperative for him to learn before the final battle. The teens had agreed, and decided to head out after lunch (more like they were threatened into it by a mother suffering from "empty nest syndrome." Rather than provoke her wrath, they agreed to stay the extra few hours).

------I've got a lovely bunch of coconuts, there they are, standing in a row! Big ones, small ones, some as big as your head--------

After much arguing throughout the day, the trio finally managed to convince Ed to apperate with them over to Avon by reminding him that time was of the essence. If they had had enough money they could have taken a plane, but they didn't, so they had to do the next best thing. Once they arrived in Avon, Ed turned around to Harry, who had been the one to apperate with him, said, "I hate you," sat down and started inspecting his automail arm for any malfunctions or scratches. After about an hour of poking it and tightening loosened screws (and the trio staring blankly into space as he did so) Ed stated he was ready to go, and that it would take a hell of a lot of convincing to go through that again. The trio rolled their eyes and stood up.

"So, where was he living again?" Ron asked, turning to Harry. Hermione answered him instead.

"It's on the intersection of Southern Boulevard and Baltic. Turn right onto Baltic, and it's the third brown house on the left. It has the same wards around it as Grimwald Place."

"What bald place?" Ed asked in a state of confusion.

"Grim-wald Place, not What-bald place," Hermione corrected as Ron held in a chuckle. "And don't worry, you'll understand when we get there.

"Humph," Ed said, crossing his arms as he continued walking.

Not long after that the group of four came to the place where the house should be, but instead of the third house on the left being brown, it was a frilly bright pink with white trim.

"What the hell?" Ed asked, squinting one eye and raising his eyebrows as he stared at the frilly edifice.

Hermione pushed aside the dazed alchemist and said clearly, "209 Baltic Place." And suddenly a two story brown stucco house materialized into the space between the horrifically pink building and the tan one on the right.

Ed twitched, and then asked, "This it?"

"Yes. Come on, let's go. We sent him an owl after breakfast, so he should be expecting us." Hermione said, walking forward along the concrete path to the front door. She then raised her fist and knocked sharply five times, and then shouted all their names at the door. A short old man with glasses bigger than Ed's fists popped his head out slowly (2) and turned to look at them. His already magnified eyes grew even wider and he opened the door to them (3).

"Come in! Come in! I've been expecting you!" He said hospitably, stepping out of the doorway to let them through.

"Uh… thanks." Ed said as he and the others entered the domain. The inside was decorated in a Mexican theme. Strange—none of them had thought Ollivander to be the kind of person who was into collecting porcelain roosters and plushy bulls. That, and the thought of him wearing a sombrero was rather odd, but they brushed that off as they sat on the faux leather couch across from the fireplace with a bleach-white cow skull hanging on it.

"So, I suppose we should get right down to business, then. You four can tell me all about what's going on in the outside world. I had to give up the Prophet because it would involve giving away my address, and that would rather defeat the purpose of all the protective spells, now wouldn't it?" the old man said, conjuring up a measuring tape seemingly from nowhere. Ed just blinked and pretended he hadn't just seen that happen as Ollivander proceeded to take measurements of his left arm (manually, strangely enough. No magic involved, much to the relief of Ed the skeptic). Ed didn't miss the calculating glance thrown at his eyes before the man scurried off upstairs with an exclamation of, "I'll be right back! Make yourselves comfortable!" Followed by Ron's exclamation of, "He has a mechanical bull?" as he pointed across the room to a metal bull that had been charmed to rock violently like a bucking bronco.

A few moments later Ollivander returned, carrying only three boxes.

"12 inch dragon heart string, pine wood. Give it a wave," He said, handing Ed the wand. Ed did so, but all that managed to happen was that the mechanical bull fell over sideways, knocking into a pillar with a porcelain rooster on it and breaking both pillar and barn animal imitation. "Ok, not that one!" Ollivander exclaimed, whipping the wand out of Ed's grasp as the trio suppressed amused laughter. "Phoenix tail feather, 9 inches, oak wood." Ed waved the wand, and the mechanical bull turned into a furby. Ollivander screamed and threw the monstrosity in the food disposal, and the thing gave a manically tortured scream of "I love you!" as it disappeared. Ed had already thrown the wand across the room, so Ollivander simply had to hand him the last wand. "Third time's the charm! Threstral feather, 10 and a half inches, Oak wood (4)." Ed waved it and a large sphere of blue encompassed him, whipping his golden braid around in circles for a moment before dying back down and sinking into the wand. "Figured as much, with those eyes of yours it was easy to tell you were different. Anyway, I believe that settles that matter. Now tell me, what _has_ been going on out there?" Ollivander asked, gesturing out the window.

"Actually, Voldemort and the Death Eaters have been relatively inactive for a while. The occasional werewolf attack, sporadic dementor attacks, but nothing much. Strangely, most of the victims were blond, not that that really makes much difference, but you never know," Harry said, shrugging his shoulders. Then he thought of something. "Hey, Ollivander. The Order had a lead, and wanted us to check it out. Do you by any chance know about the location of the last Ravenclaw heir's house?"

"Already doing such dangerous work for the Order? As a matter of fact, I do. Here, I'll get you a map." Ollivander slowly stood up from his chair and walked into a room off to the side. A few moments later he returned with a map in his hand. "Here you go! This should do it. See that area over there where it doesn't show any cities nearby?"

"You mean the one you circled in red over here?" Ron asked, pointing to an area on the map where there indeed was a large red circle.

"Yes! That one exactly! Her house was somewhere in there, though I'm not sure where exactly. It's only about a two by two mile area though."

"**_ONLY?_**" Exclaimed an aghast Ron.

"That's not too bad. Stop complaining. At least we don't have to search the whole country!" Ed exclaimed, quite obviously glad with their luck.

"You're crazy," Ron said, staring at Ed like he'd grown a second head.

"It's been great seeing you again Olivander, but we really need to be going. We'll stop by here again on our way back," said Harry, standing up. The others followed his lead.

"That a promise?" The old wand maker asked.

"Of course it is. Would I ever give my word loosely?"

"No, you wouldn't," Olivander smiled. "I'm looking forward to it. Oh, by the way, that map shows your location as well, so you'll always be able to find out where you are."

"Thanks. Well, see you soon!" Harry said as they all waved good bye and walked back out into the street, the house vanishing behind them.

"Be safe." Olivander said as he watched them go. "And Edward, keep them safe. The fate of the world rests with you four now."

(1): anyone who's already figured out who I'm referring to, you get a cookie! (Ed: How come I never get cookies? Me: Because I enjoy your pain. Ed: You're evil… Me: THANK YOU! Ed: ……)

(4): NinjaSquirls wishes to know if one can "pop slowly." If anyone has an answer, I would like to know to!

(3): yah… I probably have Olivander OOC, but hey, he doesn't appear often, so it's hard to get a good idea of personality. Also remember he's basically cut off from the rest of the world for a while now, so he's gunna be more social than he would normally. Especially with how his house is decorated. You have been warned!

(4): Oak symbolizes strength, wisdom, prosperity, Courage, unrelenting, independent, sensible, action, and in most religions (including Christianity, Wicca, Catholicism, Judaism, and several others) is thought to be a "Holy tree" of sorts (though it is also associated with royality). There's probably more, but that would take up too much space. Also, I chose a threstral feather because of it's association with death. And 10 inches cuz I felt like it.

A/N: well, there you have it! I'M SORRY! I'M MENTALY DISTURBED AND FULL OF FRIED FOOD FROM THE STATE FAIR! AND FURBIES FREAK ME OUT! And I have another apology to make. **_Because of school and the fact that I re-started my other fic which I've had on hold for, like, 6 months, I won't be able to update this as often, so PLEASE DON'T KILL ME!_**On another note, I was lying in bed the other night, and started coming up with random factoids about this fic. First, Ed has grown since the anime. He is now 5 foot 2 (that's the same size as NinjaSquirls!) instead of his previous 4 foot 9 (found that on Wikipedia). Also, Al (who probably won't make any appearances in this fic until _maybe_ the last chapter, is about 5 foot 7 (that's how tall I am! XD) and has been dating Rose. I would have paired him up with Martel (the snake/human chimera) if she hadn't been killed inside his armor during the anime. Poor Al… so yah, those were the only random factoids I came up with. Enjoy them, then send me a review! Please?


	18. Hufflepuff’s Cup, Part 1

Hey there!! I'm back!! And being confused as heck in Trig and Chem. Sadly, I think the reason I don't do well in chemistry is because every time she starts discussing chemical changes, my mind instantly jumps from class to FMA, which leads to either fan fiction or other anime, and by the time I tune myself back in, she's so far ahead that I can do nothing but take notes and go, "Eh?!?!?" and then whack my head on the table. It kinda hurts… but that doesn't matter now!! I've been re-reading the sixth HP book (which I just bought recently cuz I lost my other copy) in my brief moments of spare time at about 11 at night and 5:30 in the morning to try to refresh my knowledge of what happens in the sixth book, and low and behold!! The cup actually belonged to Hufflepuff, not Ravenclaw!! Who knew? So from now on I shall be referring to it as Hufflepuff's cup instead of Ravenclaw's cup, and Hufflepuff instead of Ravenclaw in every other instance they're mentioned (with the exception of who Gryffindor dated and got dumped by. That part was just way too good to give up). If you didn't read this part, well then I guess you'll be kinda confused, cuz I don't think I'll be putting that in the fic as a note. Anyone who doesn't read these occasionally important A/Ns will just have to live with a little confusion.

Dedications: firstly, to my wonderful editor NinjaSquirls, who always does an awesome job with the editing. You should all go read her fics, cuz I helped her write 2 of em, and hardly anyone has reviewed them other than me and it makes us sad. Secondly, I must thank Terra for all her wonderful ideas!! She was the only one who gave me some truly awesome ideas for horcrux defenses, and most of what I use in this chapter for that will be her ideas. Terra, if you're actually reading this, **_THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! YOU ROCK!!_**

Disclaimer: If I owned FMA or HP they would be much more random and Ed and Roy would be the main couple. They're so cute together!!

Ed: so why did you pair me with Winry in this fic?

Me: because I hadn't yet truly discovered the wonders of Full Circle by Nike Femme and the awesomeness of Roy/Ed pairings when I started this fic, and now I have to stick to this pairing.

Cookie give outs: everyone who guessed who Gryffindor was guessed right, so everyone who guessed gets a cookie!! Yeay!! hands out cookies

Last Chapter: Ed gets a wand and a furby of doom was killed. Ollivander shows them the area where Hufflepuff's house was supposed to be.

Chapter 17: Hufflepuff's Cup, Part 1

The group had been walking for about two hours and had finally reached the edge of the area Ollivander had circled for them. As they walked there, they took guesses at what the house would look like and what defenses might be guarding it. Ed just walked along with them listening to their ideas and occasionally asking them what certain things were. Once they reached the outer edge of the circle, however, they stopped the conversation and stood staring into the dense thickness of the woods. The nearest piece of civilization lay about twenty minutes back, and that was just an infrequently-used dirt road. This had been expected, of course, from the descendent of one of the Hogwarts founders, from what they had seen recently in Godric's house, as well as the Marvolo Slytherin's small shabby hut that Harry had glimpsed the previous year in Dumbledore's pensive.  
"Well, no use standing around and staring at it. We have a lot of ground to cover, so let's get started!" Ed said, clearly agitated – he had actually broken pace just to stare at a large clump of rather unremarkable trees. "Under normal circumstances I would suggest we split up in two groups, you three together and me off by myself, but all things considered, I think I could use your background knowledge on what could be in there."  
"Not to mention this would be a perfect chance to start teaching you magic!" Hermione exclaimed excitedly.  
"Huh? Oh, yah… sure, why not?" Ed said, with a little trepidation at the thought of crossing the line and breaking the laws of Alchemy yet again, considering where it landed him the last time he tried. He wasn't too sure if magic would work for him. _'Obviously it works for them, but they're from this world, unlike me. What if it doesn't work for me and extracts the same penalty as alchemy does? What would that do?' _he wondered to himself as the group walked into the trees.  
"Hermione, I think we'll let you teach Ed. Ron's not exactly the best teacher, and I have a feeling that you would cut in anyway if I tried. You two have fun. Oh, and Ed, if she starts getting all misty-eyed over the thought of teaching someone about the 'wonders of magic,' feel free to laugh. She's used to it by now," Harry said, smiling at the reaction he got out of the girl as she sharply snapped out of her "glorious plans" of where to start as she turned to glare at him.  
"HEY!"   
"It's true though, in'nit?" Ron commented, smirking a little. Ed just laughed straight out, which got him an elbow in the ribs by Hermione, who was standing right next to him; not that the impact hurt him at all. It just tickled slightly, which made him laugh even more.   
Hermione huffed and then said sharply, "Just take out your wand!"   
"Alright, alright…" Ed said, calming down a bit and pulling out the polished stick.  
"We'll start with the basics. The levitation spell, _wingardium leviosa_. What's most important is the movement of the wrist. The swish, and flick!" Hermione said, demonstrating the motion with her own wand. "You try."  
"Ok. Like… this?" Ed said, repeating the motion perfectly, and feeling a little like an idiot brandishing a stick.  
"Umm… yes, actually. Very good. Now try the spell. Make sure to pronounce it perfectly. Wingardium leviosa!" Hermione shouted, commencing the movements with her wand and levitating Ron.  
"Hey! No fair 'mione! Put me down!" shouted the mortified red-head.   
"Ok, now you try, Ed," Hermione instructed, putting Ron back down on the ground as he pouted at being used for a demonstration. Harry laughed.   
"Alright," Ed agreed, looking around for something to levitate.  
"Oh, and one more thing. The larger the item is you're trying to lift, the h—" Hermione stopped short. A reasonable reaction considering there was now a boulder about three feet taller than she was floating just about five feet away from her.  
"The larger the item is you're trying to lift, the…" Ed said, encouraging her to continue.  
"Oh, never mind! Let's try another. **_Petrificus Totalus_**. This one causes the person or animal you're directing it at to become immobilized. You don't need any wand movements for this one." At this Ron jumped and hid behind Harry. "Oh, Ron, honestly!" she said in exasperation. Ed, however, noticed that part of it was from annoyance at her intended target getting out of her grasp. Hermione turned to face a rabbit that was just jumping across the path. "Petrificus totalus!" she shouted, and the creature froze in mid air and dropped with a soft thud onto the ground in front of them.

'_Well that's useful… creepy, but useful…' _he thought, silently wondering to himself if he could use that back in Ametris. It would be rather amusing fun at parties. Or, more specific to what he was thinking, battle assessments. It's rather hard to snap one's fingers when one is frozen and unable to move… "Petrificus totalus," Ed said, pointing his wand randomly up in the air.

"Ed, that's not safe! You could—" THUMP! A spider about the size of Ed's fist fell to the ground, completely petrified. Hermione jumped back, and Ron screamed like a girl. It took Ed a second to register that _Ron_ had screamed and not Hermione, but he just shrugged and tried not to laugh for the sake of allowing the red-head whatever dignity he still possessed after that.

"Well that wasn't very hard. What now?" he asked, turning to a fuming Hermione.

"You're too reckless, Ed! That could have been dangerous!! You need to be more careful!"

"Heh, funny. That's what everyone always said back at home. Never did listen to 'em. Well, except for Sensei, but she's scary. You'd listen too if you were being beaten by her…"

"Sensei?" Hermione asked at the new term.

"It means teacher." Ed said, as if what he said was the most obvious thing in the world.

"YOUR TEACHER WAS A _GIRL!?!?! _And you're **_AFRAID_** of her? That's a laugh! I didn't think there was anything that you're afraid of! Well, other than that furby back there, but that's different. Everyone hates those things," Ron said, laughing at the pouting blond alchemist.

"There's nothing strange about his teacher being a girl! And don't forget, you were always a little afraid of Professor McGonagall," Hermione pointed out.

"Trust me, you couldn't even _compare_ anyone to _my_ sensei— I bet if you tried she'd either beat the crap out of you for disrespect or find the person you were talking about and become best friends with them." Ed shuttered at the thought of two Izumis and turned back to Hermione. "Well, what else ya got ta teach me? I think I'm starting to get a general idea of how this magic stuff works."

"_Starting_ to? Ed, you got the first charm on your first try!" Ron pointed out with slight disgust.

"You're just jealous because it took you a week just to get the levitation spell." Hermione pointed out.

"Oh yah? Well…" Ron started.

"Sorry to break up the love fest, but I do believe there's a rabbit frozen on the ground. Someone should fix that."

"Envenerate!" Hermione said, with a little more force than necessary, which consequently caused the rabbit to learch higher in the air as it was taken out of its temporary paralysis.

Three hours and twelve spells later, Hermione got agitated and decided to give Ed a _real_ challenge. "Ok, Ed. You've done great so far. Let's try another one. This one is called the Patronus. It's used to dispel dementors."

"Which are……" Ed led, reminding her that he had no idea what the things were.

"Dementors are truly evil creatures. No one knows where they came from. They can't see, or talk, they always wear dark, ragged clothes, and no one really knows what they look like. They feed on positive human emotions – happiness, hope, excitement, every good thing. Their mere presence sucks every happy feeling or memory from any person around, leaving only cold dark despair in its place. The worst experiences of the victim's life will flood through them as everything positive is stripped away. People with worse memories are more heavily affected than those who haven't really faced many bad things," Hermione explained. Harry's eyes grew distant, and Ron looked away as if he had just been put in an awkward position.

"Good to know. I have a hard enough time with my past as it is. I don't need anything bringing it up when I need to fight. So let's see if I can pull this one off. What do I need to know about the spell?" Ed asked, helping everyone bring their thoughts back to the present.

"Think of your best memory, point your wand, and say the incantation. Be sure to concentrate completely on the memory and put all your force into maintaining it," Hermione instructed. Ed gave it a try, and nothing happened. He looked somewhat surprised by this, but shrugged his shoulders and tried again. After about ten minutes and still not having gotten it he was starting to get a little irked. An hour later the trio had learned several new and colorful words in various languages, and another thirty minutes in, Ed finally managed to achieve his Patronus.

"IT'S A FRIGGEN ALBINO CAT!!!" he exclaimed, clearly pissed that he had spent so much effort on something so deplorable.

"First, it's a tiger, not just any cat, and second, all patronuses (or is it patroni?) are that color. Not many people could do what you just did so quickly, so stop acting so disappointed in yourself!" Hermione said, just as pissed as Ed was. Here was someone who surpassed her in EVERYTHING and he was just a short, hot-headed, annoying, whiny PIPSQUEAK!! Hermione walked away in a huff. Ed's vein pulsed. He had the distinct feeling that she had just called him short.

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING A SPECK OF DUST SO SMALL THAT A MUSTARD SEED WOULD LAUGH AT IT?" he shouted angrily as she walked ahead. Before anyone had the chance to say anything else, or even laugh at the diminutive chibi (Ed: HEY!), a rumbling sound was heard coming from their left. The group turned to face it and came head to head with what looked like a rhino.

"WHAT THE HECK?" Ed exclaimed, jumping out of the way just in time as the creature passed by an inch away from him and hit the tree behind where Ed had just stood. Rather than the thump of impact, the tree exploded, shattering as easily as a fallen vase. "What the hell is that thing?" Ed asked in amazement, forcibly reminded of the explosions Kimbly made by transmuting people into walking bombs, and what remained after. He flinched.

"I'm not sure, but I think it's a Erumpent. They're supposed to be _extremely_ rare! They look like rhinoceroses, but have the ability to explode anything they touch with their horns, which can pierce through anything. I read about it once in _A Record of Rare and Dangerous Creatures_!" Hermione exclaimed.

"Rare and deadly. Just my luck. God must really hate me. Not like I believe in him or anything. Well, might as well get this over with. Because he can explode anything he touches, I don't have any other choice but to kill the thing," Ed stated, clapping his hands and placing them on the ground in front of him. A bright blue light blinded everyone there, and temporarily stunned the creature. When the light finally cleared away Ed was holding a long pike with one main prong and two smaller blades that stuck out from the side of the main blade. "I hope you don't mind if I fight this thing my way. I still don't think I'm quite comfortable using magic rather than the alchemy I've relied on for so long."

"Everyone should go read the fic by NinjaSquirls because Hanjuuluver and her homicidal muse Kate will turn sadistic and evil if you don't… wow… why did I just say that? That has absolutely nothing to do with anything!" Ron exclaimed randomly.

I, Hanjuuluver then randomly pop in out of nowhere. "That's because I am using this time while everyone's still paying attention to get this in here. I know, I know, I'm evil and this was just starting to get really good, but for some reason I get the feeling that a lot of people don't read the A/Ns which occasionally have something important to them. And no one's been reviewing NinjaSquirls' fics, and that makes me sad cuz I actually helped write some of them. Like the one where Ed is Roy's fiancé and Roy is found lying naked in the street wearing nothing but a top hat and a pot of petunias and is being hit on by a vampire. That was a good one… And then there's her really great song fic she did recently that is centered on Roy/Ed yaoi goodness. It's chapter two of Sin and Redemption. It is a truly amazing thing that took her almost three weeks to get, so go to NinjaSquirls' profile and find a fic there, and read it! She's in my fav authors list, and all her fics are on my fav stories list… I think… well, go there now and read them! Go now! This is serving as a a/n as well, so there you have it! I'll get back to the story now!"

"Wow. That was rather random. But she has a point, ya know. People really should read the A/Ns," Ron pointed out sagely. Everyone stared at him in amazement. Ron never said anything smart.

Ron looked affronted and was about to say something, but another loud explosion sounded as the Erumpent turned around and knocked its horn into another tree. Hanjuuluver squealed and disappeared again to continue writing the story. And to escape the ramped Erumpent.

This was all the group needed to be brought back to their senses.  
"ED! LOOK OUT!!" Hermione shouted as the large creature flew towards the small blond amidst the splinters falling from the last explosion. There was no need for the warning, as Ed back-flipped away from the Erumpent, flinging his backpack as he went. Harry caught the pack and set it down next to a tree so nothing would be broken in the fray. Ed, meanwhile, had skidded to a halt just an inch away from a rather large boulder and leapt sideways as the Erumpent continued to charge at him. The rock shattered with a loud bang, and pieces of rubble ranging in size from tiny pebbles to rocks the size of a head and scattered across the area, some of them knocking down trees. Harry and the others managed to blow up some of the larger ones while they were still in the air; Ed ran a bit further, fervently wishing the path was wider, or indeed that there _was_ a path. Sadly, there was not, and he decided it did him no good to pout over what he didn't have. He looked back just in time to notice the creature plunging straight forward without any regard to the trees, shrubs, and rather large rocks that lay in the way. Each of these obstacles was quickly demolished with a loud explosion. One of the more particularly violent explosions sent a rock hurtling at Ed's head. He just managed to jump out of the way, but his foot slipped on a tree root, tripping him and making him land roughly on his side, the heavy pole of his pike landing atop him, with the Erumpent still charging towards him. He didn't have enough time to leap out of the way, and could only hope he was to small to be trampled by the creature and then berate himself for thinking of it.

Luckily, Hermione had been standing nearby and used a Stunning Charm on the beast.

"Are you ok, Ed?"

"For now, but couldn't you have done that earlier?" he asked, standing up and brushing himself off as he started heading towards her.

"No, I couldn't have. You were moving around so much I was—" Hermione didn't get to finish her sentence as the Erumpent made a grunting noise and shook off the spell. Ed's eyes widened in shock as he leapt out of the way yet again, pushing Hermione away as well, though taking care not to hit her with the pike.

"It looks like they have a resistance to magic. Stay out of the way and just trust me!" Ed exclaimed, hefting the pike again and leaping away to lead the creature away from her and the other two. Once he reached one of the openings created by the explosions, he stopped and just stood there, waiting for the creature. The animal made no move to stop, or even slow down. A second later, there was no sign of Ed, just a large animal standing where he had been just a moment before, looking eerily placated.

"ED!" The trio shouted in horror. They had now noticed a small pool of blood forming for a moment before breaking open to form a small river, the crimson liquid staining the ground and the feet of the creature that stood in it.

Hermione looked away; Ron hugged her, trying to console the distraught girl.

"I shouldn't have listened! I should have helped him! What was he thinking?" She screamed, grief lacing her voice.

"It's not your fault, 'Mione. You couldn't have done anything anyway. It's not your fault…"

All this time Harry was just standing, staring at the still pooling blood with morbid fascination, not able to look away. It was only him who noticed when the large animal toppled sideways, sending up a cloud of dust. From this, a dark figure rose, much shorter than the Erumpent had been. The noise had been enough to get Hermione and Ron to turn around and face the scene again, and the hope grew as the dust started to go down, revealing first a mess of golden hair, then a glint of metal shining through the swirling debris, and then at last…

"Now that is something I would much rather avoid doing in the future," Ed stated calmly, looking at the large creature that lay at his feet.

"ED YOU **_IDIOT!!!_** NEVER DO THAT AGAIN!! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW WORRIED WE WERE!!" shouted the irate Hermione, her wrath allowing her to be easily compared to a livid Mrs. Weasley.

"Actually yes, I heard you. I would have said something, but I was a bit busy trying to keep a rather large Rhino from falling on me and crushing me to death. Sorry 'bout that," Ed replied rather sardonically as he tossed down the pike and transmuted it back into the ground.

"What did you do to it?" asked Ron, who had let go of Hermione out of the fear of her wrath (2).

"I crouched down right as it got up to me so I could use its momentum to cut a gash down its underside. In most animals with a thick pelt it's the weakest point, and so if you want to take it down you have to aim for there. The only way I could get that low was to let it run over me. The damn thing tore off my sleeve though. It's ripped so badly it's probably not even worth fixing at this point," Ed declared with a sigh, feeling more remorse over the loss of a sleeve than the fact that he had just been run over by a rather large animal.

"You killed a rare animal with a _pike_, and you're more worried about the loss of a _sleeve_?!?" Hermione accused in shock, clearly over being glad he hadn't been killed by aforementioned animal.

"For your information, I didn't _kill_ it, I just wounded it and knocked it out. It'll heal completely in a couple days time, and will probably regain consciousness in a few hours, though I'd hate to be around when it does. So if you don't mind, I'd rather like to get going now," a chibi Ed declared, looking much put out and insulted as it pouted and marched forwards once again.

They walked on a bit further, but by this point it was starting to get dark. The group used _Lumos_ to light the tips of their wands so they could continue to make their way in the gloomy dark. Ed figured the sun was probably still up, but due to the dense mass of trees overhead, little light could penetrate the darkness. He became extra alert in the surroundings, not wanting to be caught off guard by another one animal that could make things explode. It was due to this that he noticed a trail of smoke winding systematically through the trees. Not wanting to disturb the others, he said nothing, but continued to watch it as it veered off on an angle and started following them closely. There was no way this was just a strand of fog that was rolling in for the night. It was far too agile for that. Ed ran through a mental list of mythical creatures from the scary stories his mother used to read to him and Al when they were young. _'Let's see… ghosts… and I think Vampires. I can't believe I'm actually thinking this. Clearly I've been here too long when I actually start believing all those kid stories mom told us when I was only about five! Maybe there's something else that it could be.'_ Ed thought to himself before speaking up.

"Hermione?"

"Yah, Ed? What is it?"

"What are some other magical creatures here? Are there any that can turn into smoke?"

"The only one like that I can think of is vampires. Why do you ask?" she questioned, turning to face him with a quirk of the eyebrow.

"Oh, nothing really. Just curious," he replied with a shrug of the shoulders. He cast an imperceptible glance to where the trail of smoke had been and noticed there were now more of them. This was not good. "But things like vampires actually exist here?" he asked, trying to get information he would certainly be needing soon.

"Yes, of course. They're a race even more ancient than wizards, though the wizarding community has never really been on friendly terms with the vampiric race," Hermione replied, reveling in being more knowledgeable than Ed in something.

"I see. Is it true that they can be killed just by shining light on them?"

"No, that was disproved a long time ago, but they will die if lit on fire. Why the sudden interest though?" she persisted. Ed didn't even have to answer that question however, as one of the wisps of smoke took form and settled on the path in front of them, clad in a crimson robe, with navy hair spiked with twelve two inch spikes tipped at the top with violet, his silver eyes glittering clearly through the darkness.

"Because he noticed us. We've been watching you," he said in a smooth tenor voice as an additional ten vampires materialized around them. Ed slid a hand into his pocket before speaking again.

"And I don't suppose you just wanted to say hello to us?"

"No, far from it," he said with a chuckle. "In fact, we've been given orders to make sure to stop anyone who tries to get through these woods. It's been our job for centuries. By the way, my name is Karuna. I am the leader of this tribe."

"Who has given you orders?" Harry asked harshly, already assuming it must be Voldemort.

"Ashoka Hufflepuff. He was the first descendent of the late Helga Hufflepuff. He saved one of our kindred, and so in turn we promised to keep watch over his heirs and protect their estates. It has been our proud duty ever since," Karuna told them.

"Fine job you did with that. The most recent heir was killed in her own home just about twenty years ago," Ed pointed out bluntly, adding a scoff for additional effect.

"Are you saying we are incompetent? The Dark Lord is very elusive, and our tribe is not large enough to cover all the surounding grounds at every moment. We lost five of our own that night."

"And I'm sure it was very tragic, but you see, there's no one living there anymore to protect, so if you don't mind…" Ed said, atempting to walk past Karuna.

"You will not enter her home! There may no longer be an occupant in the house, but it is still her home, and her posessions. I refuse to let some grave-robbing low-lifes to invade her home!" Karuna shouted menacingly.

"Oh! I'm afraid there's some mistake! We're not here to purloin (1) her former belongings! It's simply a matter of retrieving a horcrux planted there by the one who killed her! We need to destroy those in order to expunge him!" Hermione said, using big words because of her trepidation.

"And how do you intend to difrenciate between the horcrux and any of her other belongings?" Karuna asked with a snear.

"It's a gold goblet with the Hufflepuff crest on the bottom!" Ron interjected suddenly.

"And is it safe to say that you assume she only posessed one such goblet?"

"Well, I guess…" Ron said, suddnly unsure of himself, and also just realizing he was conversing with a blood-sucking time bomb that could go psyco and kill them all at any moment.

"Do you still intend to continue your journey?" Karuna asked with a malicious smirk.

"Yes." Ed stated firmly.

"Then I must kill you."

In that instant, seven things happened almost simultaneously. Karuna and his fellow vampires jumped. Hermione and Ron shreaked. Ed withdrew his hand from his pocket. A loud snap was heard. Flames spontaneously engulfed all ten figures, making loud exploding noises as they caught on fire and blew up. Darkness reighned once more. (A/N: so much for Karuna, eh?)

"What… What just happened?" Ron asked shakily, looking up from Hermione's hair where his face had been burried as they clasped each other in horror as the vampires jumped at them.

"I lit them on fire. Hermione said earlier that that's what worked best."

"So you _were_ asking me for a reason! I knew it!" Hermione exclaimed, letting go of Ron and punching one fist into her hand.

"Of course. It would be a really random question if I hadn't."

"So why didn't you tell us that you saw vampires then? We could have been more prepared!" Harry shouted angrily.

"You're honestly saying that you would be more calm about a bunch of vampires jumping out at you if you were put on edge by a warning, and would have been able to get information out of them after that?"

"Well… no…" Harry said, still eying Ed skeptically.

"No, I didn't think so."  
"Wait! Did you just say get information out of them? What did we learn from _them_ other than they wanted to kill us!" Ron stuttered in hysteria.

"Get a hold of yourself. If you had been paying any attention he said that their tribe swore to protect the castle. This says two things. First, there might be more of them around here, so be careful. Second, it tells us that that the other founders may also have formed similar alegiances. We'll want to be careful about that later. Also, he clearly stated that there are many of the same kind of cup in the house. It won't be easy to pick out which one it is. There may be a trap set up for all of them, when only one cup contains the actual horcrux. There's no way to be sure," Ed frowned for a moment before smiling ruefully and letting a small laugh escape his lips.

"What is it, Ed?" Harry asked.

"Nothing really. It's just that I haven't seen this many explosions since Roy and I were going out. He's the Flame Alchemist, you see; his element is flame, and things usualy tend to burst into flames around the man. Scarcely a night went by during that time that I didn't come home with the tips of my hair burned off and ashes all over my coat," Ed said, frowning slightly as he wiped off invisible soot from his clothes.

"Wait, hold on! Did you just say Roy? As in a guy?" Ron asked, mouth hanging open at the sudden realization that their new friend, the one who could take down any opponent and held no fear, was gay.

"Yah, so?" Ed asked, tilting his head to the side slightly as he removed one white glove and stuck it in his pocket, revealing the automail arm once more.

"So you're gay?!?!" Ron exclaimed.

"Technically, no. We broke up. After a while I figured out that our relationship at that point was based more on respect for him. He's like the loving older brother that I never had, and we got along well together. It just didn't work out too well. Not to mention Winry just about killed me when she found out, which she wouldn't have if Roy hadn't burned about four inches of my hair off. It took _forever_ to grow that back!" Ed exclaimed ruefully, grabbing at the end of his braided hair.

"But you still went out with a guy, so that means you are," Hemione pointed out, feeling rather awkward, but trying her best not to show it. Harry began to blush slightly, thinking of all the times he had been alone with Ed when he was drinking. It suddenly felt so much more awkward now than it had been when he had thought that Ed was straight (a/n: no, this is not going to be a Ed/Harry pairing!! It's going to stay as Ed/Win. So sad. Ed/Roy is so much better. NinjaSquirls firmly agrees with me on this).

"Not that it matters, or is really any of your business, but I have a girlfriend back at home, and I'm perfectly happy with her. As long as her feelings haven't changed about me, I think that that's where I belong. She's one of the reasons that I have to get back home. I made a promise…" Ed said, trailing off. The trio fell silent as they watched Ed's expression soften as he spoke of her, and decided to leave the subject for now, though the conversation had renewed their interest in Edward's past. Maybe he would tell them more once they got the horcrux.

-----------Palmtree head incorporated----------

(1): I used the thesoruous a lot for this chappie. You can tell, can't you! By the way, for anyone who hasn't figured out what this word is or is too lazy to try (like I am) it means to steal.

(2): not the Homunculus Wrath, as he will not be appearing in this fic. I personally just can't help but think of FMA characters periodically when something has absolutely nothing to do with them. Example: Envy Spa and Nails. Tell me, how wrong is that? Or reek absolute havoc, I think of Havoc, or face my Fury/Wrath, I think of Fury or Wrath. "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned." Wait! Fury scorned a woman! Bad Fury! Bad!! Beats Fury with a stick anywho, you get the idea.

Notes given to Hanjuuluver by one NinjaSquirls: 1) Do they not have anime in England? I thought everyone knew whet sensei ment. I've just noticced that in HP crossovers the West is in an anime free cacume. 2) STOP PUTTING YOU'RE INSTEAD OF YOUR!!! (She'll apreciate that I put that in here) 3) Ron is a total homophobe in every yaoi fic with this crossover! Funny! 4) are the vampires making exploding noises, or the flames? (I put that comment in here cuz I thought it was kinda funny… I'm sleep deprived. Leave me alone…)

A/N: There ya have it! I made it nice and long to make up for the really long wait. Sorry about that. And for everyone who's reading this A/N and didn't read the one at the beginning, you should go read it. It's kinda important. And also, a little reminder to go check out the fics writen by my ingenious editor, NinjaSquirls. While I was writing this she wrote another fic with an Ed/Roy pairing. It's Ed, and Roy, doing ballroom dancing together. It's a cute fic. Lots o fluff and humor. You should go read it. And her other fics. **_AND DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW!!! EVERYONE LOVES AND NEEDS REVIEWS!!_** It's a very good way of showing people you apreciate what they're doing (which just so happens to be entertaining you) and that you like/don't like the job they're doing. Only if you have a flame, flame me, not her. Flames make me laugh. Seriously. The first and so far only flame I've had so far (it was for my Nausicaä fic) made me laugh my ass off. It was great. Anywho, because I am firmly convinsed she's not getting enough reviews, I refuse to update this again untill sh gets at _least_ 5 more reviews. And of course I'd like a review or two as well, so don't forget about me!


	19. Stupid F'n Troll!

Disclaimer: If I owned FMA, Ed would be with Roy, Hughes would still be alive, and Al would remember everything after being restored to his body. However, I do not own FMA, so this is not true, and I don't own HP either, hence the fact Voldemort is still amassing Death Eaters instead of a vicious furby army. While I'm still on this disclaimer thingy, I'd like to point out I do not own Family Guy either. If I did, all the charactors would be killed in their sleep and the show would end after only one episode. That is all.

Last chapter: Ed fights with an Erumpent, and explodes several vampires. Poor Karuna never got to be a very significant character. Oh well…

Chapter 18: Stupid #$!#+$ Troll!

The group had been walking in silence for about an hour before anything of significance happened. This event just so happened to be Ron screaming like a little girl upon seeing a spider. Ed laughed, Harry laughed, the tall tree in front of them with the spider on it laughed, and Ron died a little inside (A/N: CURSE YOU FAMILY GUY AND YOUR ONE GOOD LINE OF DIALOGUE! I HATE YOU!! Now that that's over with, on to the story!). _'Wait... The tree laughed? Trees don't laugh, but this thing certainly did, so...'_ Ed looked up, really really far up, his golden eyes meeting a pair of small round black ones fitted in a head that greatly resembled one of the mis-shapen pieces of rock that had been exploded by the Erumpent not so long ago. "Shit..."

"What is it, Ed?" Asked Harry, recovering from his hysterical laughter. Who knew a guy could get that high-pitched of a voice?

Ed didn't say anything, just pointrd upwards with his still gloved hand.

"Shit…" Harry said, not being able to expand on Ed's comment. Not that his brain was working well enough for him to particularly care at the moment. Right now he was a tad bit more concerned about the giant troll standing just a few feet away from them.

"DAMNIT!! WHY DOES EVERYTHING HAVE TO BE TALLER THAN ME!!" Ed exclaimed violently, shaking his fist at the giant, shirtless, pot-bellied creature. After calming down a bit, Ed eyed the creature again, and winced. "You can't bite through steel, can you?" The dumb creature responded by swinging the club he held loosely at his side. Ed dodged it with a quick handspring, and the trio, who had been a few feet behind Ed, were sprayed with sand and pieces of sod that flew from the ground at the impact and had to shield their faces with their arms.

"I'm really not in the mood for this right now! Do you have any idea how the humidity in here is affecting my automail? Let's just get this over with, ok?" Ed said, not really knowing why he bothered talking to the thing. It was obviously too stupid to come up with anything intelligent to say (if he could even hear the short alchemist from that height). Ed snapped his fingers, and flame burst forth, engulfing the creature.

"UUGGHHH!!" It bellowed, waving its arms around frantically, not putting down the club, which consequently felled several trees, which also caught on fire. Quickly running out of things to burn, the fire died out, leaving a blackened, but clearly alive, troll in its wake, still holding the club. The trio quickly put out the flames that were enveloping the trees before turning their attention back to Ed and the troll. Ed was nimbly jumping out of the way of the multiple blows, but was clearly at the disadvantage because there wasn't enough time between the swings for him to do anything but dodge. The troll suddenly managed to pin Ed up against a tree, and just as Ed was dodging to the left, the club came down and connected with his exposed shoulder where his shirt sleeve had been ripped off. The automail arm caved under the blow, and Ed screamed in pain as the arm began to rip away from his flesh, fresh blood flowing from the wound. "FUCK!" he cursed, quickly transmuting his arm into a blade as he continued to run. He waved his newly formed blade-arm around in front of the creature, both to buy himself time and to make sure his arm still worked. _'Thank God it still works! I'd be a goner if it didn't hold up. I seriously need to remember to thank Winry for that once I get back,'_ Ed thought grimly.

Harry quickly thought back to the last time he had fought with a troll during their first year; heidn't even recall drawing his wand, but upon noticing it in his hand, already pointed at the large creature, he shouted, "W**_ingardium Leviosa_!" To his great surprise, it had no effect. Well, it did manage to slow the troll for the few moments it took it to pull the club free of the spell. **

**"OUR MAGIC DOESN'T WORK AGAINST HIM, ED! BUT WE CAN SLOW HIM DOWN FOR YOU. DO WHAT YOU CAN!" Harry shouted to the alchemist, not turning his head from the troll he and the other two were repeatedly shooting levitating spells at to slow the club. Ed nodded and ran at the creature, aiming for the Achilles' Heel, hoping to weaken the troll's stance, and if he was lucky, knock it over. The bigger they are, the harder they fall. Ed succeeded in making a rather large gash, earning another bellow of pain, and was about to swing his arm again to make a larger incision, but he had to run forward to avoid the large foot that had raised in an attempt to stomp on him. Oh, the irony. He really was a chibi alchemist so small something wanted to step on him. Thank God no one from the military would _ever_ catch word of that. Ed cartwheeled to miss the foot again as it swung towards him, but he had not been expecting that blow to be followed up by the club the troll had just freed from the levitation spells again; it broke his arm in half at the base of the blade. Ed's eyes widened in shock again as he stumbled, no longer having a hand to catch himself on, and rolled out of the way as the club came crashing down at him again. Ed was sent flying, along with the debris from the ground, and broke off a stick as he went head first past a small tree, almost ripping out the sapling along with it. He hastily drew a circle in the ground when he landed, and transmuted his pike again and instantly hefted it with his flesh arm and swung it at the heels of the creature again. As the troll stumbled from having the slice in his old wound re-opened along with having a new cut made in his other heel, Ed placed a hard kick to the back of its right knee with his left foot, and pushed off it to throw it off balance even more, as well as to leap out of the way as the troll collapsed backwards and landed on its back, taking several trees down with it. Ed drew another circle with his pike and dropped his hand down on it, sending ropes shooting up from the ground to tie the felled opponent securely.**

"Fuck. This sucks." Ed said, picking up his arm and waving it around. "Hey Harry, you brought my pack?" He asked, turning to face the awestruck trio. "What?"

"You're bleeding like mad, your arm's just been dismembered, and you're asking about your backpack!" Ron exclaimed, stating the rather obvious.

"Yes, hence me asking about the pack. So did ya bring it?"

"Ummm… no, but I can summon it. _Accio backpack,_" ordered Harry. Within a few moments the black backpack came soaring towards them. Harry caught it and tossed it to Ed.

"Thanks," he said as he somehow caught it in his hand while still holding the automail arm. "Hey, could someone give me a hand here (A/N: I'M SORRY FOR THE PUN!! PLEASE DON'T KILL ME!!)? I'm kinda short one. I just need you to open this for me," Ed pleaded after trying to open it himself a couple times, and failing miserably. Ron walked over and opened the backpack for him. Ed thanked him and dropped the half an arm (which was still in it's transmuted form. Ed decided it would be more useful that way if he needed it later) inside the pack, being careful not to break anything in it. Ron sagged under the added weight of the arm.

"Bloody hell! How heavy is that thing?" He exclaimed as Ed relieved him of the backpack.

"In pounds or in kilograms? I can't remember the unit of measurement you use here. I'm kinda rusty on my foreign measurement units," Ed said in a conversational tone.

"We use kilograms." Hermione said, automatically answering the question.

"Ah. Good to know. I think it's about… let's see…45 times 3… add 12… multiply that by 5… about 56 kilograms. Why?"

"AND YOU WEAR THAT AROUND ALL THE TIME! IT'S BLOODY HEAVY!" Ron exclaimed.

"Ron!" Hermione scolded

"Not really. If you thought that was heavy, you're clearly even more out of shape than I originally thought you were. Don't you ever work out? Spar? Anything?"

"No, we don't. But considering how it's helped you so much since you got here, it probably wouldn't be a bad idea if we learned how to. If I remember correctly, you told us you would teach us that in addition to alchemy," Harry pointed out.

"So I did. I'd be glad to teach you later, but I think I might be a better teacher once I have my missing limb back. Would you mind helping me re-attach it later? It'll be a little gory, but it's got to be done, and I can't do it myself. Not with the attachment area torn like it is."

"Sure. I'll see what I can do."

"Thanks. Do you have any bandages with you? I'd like to wrap it up before it can get infected."

"Ron's got 'em," Harry stated. Ron blinked a couple times as Ed's attention turned to him.

"Oh. Hold on a sec." Ron said, unshouldering the bag and taking out some bandages. "Here you go," Ron handed over the bandages, and Ed took them with a nod of thanks. After setting his bag back down, he began to bandage up his bleeding appendage.

"Based on the fact we've had so much trouble, I'd say we're getting close. The mansion shouldn't be too far from here," Ed said as he tied off the bandage and handed the roll back to Ron.

"You're right. Let's keep going. We should hit it pretty soon. We're almost at the very center by now. I have a feeling that that's where we'll find the house. Keep your eyes peeled for it."

"Now that's a twisted way of putting it," Ed noted, never having heard the phrase before in Amestris. It sounded rather cruel to him.

"It's just an expression! It means pay attention," Harry said, laughing as he remembered just how little Ed knew about this world. Though after thinking about it, it really did sound rather grotesque.

----------I did NOT just escape from the mental ward! The sirens are a COMPLETE coincidence!--------------

The trio only had to look for another ten or fifteen minutes before spotting the house. It was still in pretty good condition. Ed volunteered to go first, and refused to let anyone else go first because they wanted to "protect" him. He fervently stated that the only reason he was here was to help, and if getting crippled by a freakishly tall green thing was going to prevent him from doing such than he was the twin brother of someone named Fuery. The trio tried to argue with him on that fact, but then he threatened to transmute them inside out and into the next week if they tried to call him crippled one more time. They cringed, and decided to just let him open the door.

As the giant oak door to the house creaked open, they all quickly ended up wishing they hadn't let Ed open it. The blond didn't have any time to prepare for what he saw next. _It_ was there. The grotesque _abomination_ that _he_ had created. Memories bombarded his mind faster than he could fully comprehend or rationalize them. Purple and black lights from a transmutation gone unspeakably wrong. A blood curdling scream. His only brother being pulled into a gate covered in clinging vines, slowly being pulled apart by small, probing hands. A stump where his leg had been only moments before, gushing fresh blood. Flashing lights. The silhouette of his mother, just beyond his grasp. Darkness again. Fog obscuring all vision except for _that_; the pulsating flesh and ragged brown hair thrown over the scaly face of a monster, silver moonlight shining on the protruding rib cage in drastic contrast to the dark color of blood that surrounded the mangled corpse. Searing pain where his arm had just been severed. Red eyes glowing from a giant suit of armor… then nothing. Blackness. The all encompassing darkness of unconsciousness…

----------It's like Energizer Bunny on crack---------

A/N: If you were wondering what that last line break is about, don't ask, cuz I don't really know. Anywho, now for a set of things.

Sorry this was so short, it just seemed like a good place to stop. For me. I like _writing_ cliffies of doom reading them is just evil.

School sucks. And teachers have no respect for the fact that I need to update these fics more often. For some reason they keep thinking my education is more important. Why ever would they think that?

My muse has recently built a spa and a bar somewhere inside my head, and Carlos won't stop yelling at her about it. I can't really blame him. She used some of his house to make it. She couldn't find enough random debris in my brain to build it all, so she just stole some of his roof. He's been yelling at me in Spanish for the past week. DAMN YOU KATE!!

The next chapter will focus more on Harry, Ron, and Hermione. I decided Ed was hogging the spotlight too much and I needed to give these guys a shot to show off for a change.

For Halloween I'm going as Sloth and my editor NinjaSquirls will be going as Ed. She's the shortest of the two of us, so it really couldn't have worked out any other way.

Clearly, NinjaSquirls got her reviews, as I'm actually posting this, but I still think she deserves more. Do you have any idea how tolerant she has been lately? Well, aside from threatening to kill me for calling her either short or ZZ. She gets kinda violent when I do that. She starts using random Ed rants that I've pulled from various fics. But point is she's been putting up with massive amounts of my randomness, letting me OD on Penguins (wonderful caffeinated mints that keep me alive during school. She gives them to me), correcting my massacred grammar skills, and not killing me in horrible ways with either a machete or a stick! Yeay! To thank her you all should really review one of her multiple awesome fics.

Please don't to forget to review my fic!


	20. visions part 1

Hey! I'm back! And after overthrowing the evil sadistic plots of my muse Kate (who was trying to do… well, I don't really know what, but it involved the furby minions and a machete, so it couldn't have been good), and also getting NinjaSquirls to find a way to banish a banshee for me, I finally managed to figure out half of what I want to do with this chapter. Hence, the first half of this will be thought out and planned, and the second half will probably just be the product of what happens when Kate stops being homicidal and actually proves that she is indeed a muse and takes over the story for me. So I'm figuring out this fic at the same pace as you are. Is that a good thing or a bad thing I wonder? Oh well. I have an FMA poster, and that's all that matters.

Disclaimer: **Hanjuuluver owns nothing!!! Including her sanity! Which hanjuuluver thinks is obvious, as she is referring to herself in third person!**

Last chapter: Ed blows things up (Ed: HEY!), and then passes out upon seeing a boggart standing inside the door of the abandoned mansion they just spent a heck of a lot of time trying to find.

Chapter 19: Ron's socks save the day/ visions

**Harry's POV (past tense. Don't ask why, cuz I don't know.):**

I was standing behind Ed when he opened the door. I don't really know what I was expecting to happen, but I do know that I was _not_ expecting Ed to just collapse when he looked beyond the door. As he sank down, I caught him—out of instinct I guess. I don't really know what it was that I saw once he was out of my line of vision. I didn't have a long time to look at it. All I know was that it was absolutely gruesome. He must have had some sort of weird association with it or something. Maybe it was that association, coupled with all the blood loss of course, that caused him to just black out like that. I don't know. I had to set him down quickly because the thing in front of me was a boggart and once Ed was out of the way, it focused on me. As the dementor floated towards me with those tattered black rags billowing out behind it, I quickly pulled out my wand and said, "**Riddikulus!" in a commanding voice, subsequently turning the ominous figure into the first thing that came to my mind. Ed in a pink dress. Now that was funny. Despite the situation—(mainly that the real Ed was lying on the floor in front of me is a state of unconsciousness (which was probably a good thing, because other wise he would kill me), and the fact that we were attempting to take yet another of Voldemort's horcruxs, which would defiantly not be fun—I found myself unable to keep from laughing at the pink-clad Ed. Now that was priceless. Too bad it couldn't last. At the sound of laughter the boggart imploded, leaving only a thin patch of smoke behind. **

**Normal POV:**

**"Ron, help me move Ed inside!" Harry shouted, deciding that it probably wouldn't be smart to leave him lying unconscious outside with so many things that wanted to kill him. **

**"Right," Ron said, nodding his agreement; he went over and grabbed hold of Ed's legs as Harry grasped the blonde's arms. The two teens hefted their companion and moved him inside, Hermione moving ahead of them to make sure nothing else jumped out at them as they moved the boy. **

**"So, what do we do with him now?" Ron asked once they had safely navigated through the doorway. **

**"I think it would be safest to just leave him here by the door. The further we get inside, the more obstacles there will be, and it would be really hard to keep him safe when we're in the middle of a battle zone. He'll probably be safer here."**

**"You have a point there. Alright, so we'll leave him here and then go. We should probably use some spells or something to make it look like he's not here, just to be on the safe side," Ron commented, dropping his end of the body, letting Ed's legs fall with a loud thump. Harry and Hermione both winced at the loud noise. Harry slowly lowered his end as well, making certain that only a small noise escaped as he set him down. **

**"Hermione, would you mind casting the charms? I've improved a lot, but that still doesn't change the fact that you're the best among us," Harry admitted, turning to face her.**

**"Sure, no problem," she said. Hermione than commenced in waving her wand arm around in complex patterns, muttering the required spells. Even as they watched, Ed slowly began vanishing. First his body, followed by his clothes, and then by his shadow. After this transformation, Hermione cast a silencing charm in case he woke up and tried to say something (or cursed loudly at being left behind) that would alert enemies to their presence. She also added an immobility spell and several additional spells that would keep anything from walking over there except for one of them. "There. That should do the trick. I cast a few spells to make sure he's still here when we come back. That's the best I can do for him. Come on, let's get going," she said, pocketing her wand, but still keeping her hand near it incase she needed to pull it out in a hurry. Being around Harry for as long as she had, it had become somewhat of a habit. She cast a meaningful glance at her two companions and then started towards the stairs. The two boys followed her lead, leaving the unconscious blond behind. **

**By silent consent the trio decided the smartest way to go about this would be to stick together (NOTE FROM NinjaSquirls: finally. People who aren't dumb enough to split up!). Based on what they had seen already, there were bound to be defenses inside the house as well as outside. After about three minutes of wandering around the house trying to figure out where the horcrux might be hidden they heard a loud, piercing shriek and felt a slight chill overcome them. **

**"Well that didn't take long," Harry said **vehemently **as he took out his wand to prepare for whatever was approaching.**

**Harry instantly recognized the white clad figure with an icy blue face to be a banshee (1).**

**"It's a banshee. Hermione, what do you know about them?" Harry asked.**

**"The banshee is a creature that little is known about. Lockhart claimed to have banished a banshee once, but clearly that wasn't him because he admitted to being an idiot. Or at least that's what it sounded like when you told me. Anyway, I don't think that we can trust Lockhart's book, and the only other time I've seen it mentioned was in some obscure Irish story in which a man banishes a banshee by silencing it, although no one really knows what happens to a banshee once it's been silenced. They can't necessarily kill you, as they're only an omen of death, but they can certainly keep you from going anywhere (2)."**

**"Well then, I guess we'll have to silence it. I don't think one beam will have any effect," Harry said, pausing a second to check the progress of the shrieking figure which was now only a few yards away. "Let's all go on three."**

**"1…2…_3!_" The trio shouted at once, hitting the forthcoming opponent with a silencing charm. **

**The figure gave out one last silent scream as it vanished without a noise, leaving a pile of grave-soil and one protruding rib bone. **

**"Well Hermione, you should be happy now. You are one of the first people who has ever seen the effects of silencing a banshee; but you'll have to wait 'till we get out of here alive before you can go write it down." Harry teased. **

**"Of course, O Chosen One!" Hermione exclaimed with a mock bow. Harry and Ron both laughed with her as she straightened up and shifted the wand back up the sleeve of her sweater (3).**

**"Well, I guess we'll search this room first and see what we find. Be careful though. We don't know what defenses will be on things (4)." **

**"Right," Ron and Hermione agreed.**

**"I'll take the china cabinet next to the door the banshee just came through. Ron, Hermione, you two take the chest-of-drawers over in the corner," Harry said, delegating the search. **

**Ron and Hermione carefully walked towards the chest. After considering how they could best open the drawers without touching them, Hermione decided that the best choice would be to try _accio_, and if that didn't work, she would conjure a cloth and have Ron try opening the drawers using that so he wouldn't touch anything (pointing out that he had to do something, and not just have her do all the work as he watched. He was there for a reason after all). Surprisingly, just using _accio_ worked. The contents were just simple trinkets. Nothing even remotely interesting. Harry, however was having more luck. Or less, depending on how one decided to look at the matter (5).**

**The cabinet door had needed to be opened by hand, but with the help of his conjured cloth, Harry was not harmed when he did so. The door opened with a creak. The dust gathered over the years gently floated off the top of the door as it revealed a row of perfectly polished golden cups, exactly as they had probably looked ten years ago when the house was still in good condition and inhabited by the former Hufflepuff heir. Harry reached out with a tentative hand and, making sure to hold the cloth between himself and one of the gleaming goblets, identical to the one he had seen in the memory, he encircled his hand around its thin neck. **

**"AHHHH!!!!!!" He screamed, jerking his hand away swiftly and pressing his hands to his face.**

**"HARRY! WHAT IS IT? WHAT'S WRONG?!?!?!?" Hermione cried as Ron looked on in horror.**

**"VOLDEMORT! IT'S VOLDEMORT IN LEDERHOSEN!!! IT BURNS! IT BURNS!!! AAAAHHHHHH!!!!" Harry's agonized voice rang out.**

**"NO! It can't be! He's not even German!! Harry! Harry, come out of it! It's just an illusion! You need to shake it off!"**

**"HOW?? HE'S CLOGGING!! YOU CAN'T IGNORE CLOGGING!!"**

**"YOU HAVE TO TRY!!" Hermione shouted back. Just then, Ron came up with an idea. He picked up whatever random item lay closest to him, and hurled it across the room straight into Harry. **

**Being hit by the thick, leather-bound copy of _Tess_ caused the horrifying image playing in Harry's mind to break away, and he returned to full consciousness.**

**"What was that?" Harry asked in a daze.**

**"I'm guessing it was a strong illusion charm cast on the goblet that sends anyone who touches it into a rather vivid day-dream that no one else can see. More than likely, if you touch too many of those, it would quickly stop you from finding the actual horcrux," Hermione ventured.**

**"You're probably right. At this rate, it'll take me until the middle of next week before we get anywhere with this. Ron, do you have any ideas?" Harry asked his red-headed friend.**

**"The only thing I can think of is going through them one by one. I know they cause horrible visions, but it's the only way, isn't it? I mean, its not like we can just give up and turn around now."**

**"True. We really don't have any alternatives. But it looks like by hitting you with that book, Ron managed to break the spell. That means all we have to do is take turns testing each goblet, and each time we find a failure, hit whoever touched it with a book," Hermione stated. Ron gave a slight twitch at the idea of being beaten with a book, but agreed that it was a good idea.**

**"In theory, yes. But to be honest, I still haven't been able to completely shake it off. It's like the image keeps re-playing in my mind, but just in the background. I can't really explain it, but…" Harry said, trailing off at the end for lack of words to use.**

**"So what you're saying is there's no way to stop the visions, just dilute it?"**

**"Yes."**

**"Well, that's still better than nothing. I'll go first," Hermione said, pushing back her apprehension and fear as she walked up to the cabinet and pulled a goblet off the shelf.**

**"HERMIONE!" Ron shouted as her bare hand touched the cool metal. Harry watched on in empathy as Hermione went through the same thing he had. **

**----------**

**Hermione's mind fogged for a split second before she found herself standing on the edge of a tall sky-scraper, gazing down hundreds of feet below where cars the size of sugar ants crawled lethargically across a crowded intersection and people walked by in the midst of their daily routines. She screamed as she felt a pair of hands grab firmly onto her shoulders and start to thrust her off. She grasped wildly for the building she had just lost contact with, and missed the ledge by only a few millimeters; her freefall continued, unhindered by her fervent attempts. She suddenly remembered the wand in her sleeve and conjured a large pile of pillows underneath her. **

**She landed on them with a muffled thud, and sighed in relief as she remained uninjured. Well, mostly uninjured. She had a nasty bruise on her left shoulder, where she had landed hardest, and was still petrified by the experience, but other than that, she was still well. **

**----------**

**Harry had needed to catch Hermione as she suddenly started to fall forward. With his hands full, he was unable to reach the book lying at his feet. He carefully set her down on the ground, and shifted his weight to the right to pick up the novel. With a gentle rap to the head, Hermione's eyes snapped open and her hand shot out to her left shoulder.**

**"OUCH!" she exclaimed, rubbing the newly formed bruise.**

**(1): This is a great idea for which I must thank both Terra (who gave me the idea to use a banshee in the first place) and my editor NinjaSquirls (who provided me with info on how to vanquish a banshee). Also, there is an extra, not very serious version available under these footnotes. It involves socks and a pot of petunias. Why you ask? An abundance of penguins and way too imaginative friends. And sleep deprivation. Defiantly sleep deprivation. Also, THERE WILL BE SOMETHING REALLY RANDOM COMING UP!! THIS IS NOT AN EXADGERATION! IT INVOLVES A CERTAIN DARK-LORD WEARING LEDERHOSEN!! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!! **

**(2): Don't know if that's true, but I'm saying it is anyway. Mainly cuz I love the idea of banshees. And FYI, NinjaSquirls is to thank for this info. THANKS ZZ!! **

**(3): Yes, I know. That was really OOC, but I just had to do it. Live with it.**

**(4): I still can't believe I used the word "THINGS" I got so many lectures from Mrs. Leese on that… I can't even read it in a book without twitching. I feel like such a hypocrite now. BUT I CAN'T COME UP WITH ANY OTHER WORD TO USE!! KUSO!!**

**(5): I'm starting to think I'm using too many foot notes. Oh well. DARK-LORD WEARING LEDERHOSEN SCENE IS COMING UP!!! IF YOU DON'T LIKE THIS, SKIP DOWN 7 PARAGRAPHS!!! I BLAME THIS ON JANE AUSTEN GIRL!!! SHE MADE ME!!!**

**"Well that didn't take long," Harry said **vehemently **as he took out his wand to prepare for whatever was approaching.**

**Harry instantly recognized the white clad figure with an icy blue face to be a banshee.**

**"Quick! What do you do when a… what's that thing called again?" Ron asked.**

**"It's a banshee…" Harry said before Hermione cut him off with a glare. **

**"I'm the one who will go around spewing random magical knowledge, thank you very much, O Chosen One. Now the banshee is a creature that little is known about. Lockhart claimed to banish a banshee once, but clearly that wasn't him, because he admitted to being an idiot. Or at least that's what it sounded like when you told me. Anyway, I don't think that we can trust Lockhart's book, and the only other time I've seen it mentioned was in some obscure Irish story in which a man banishes a banshee by silencing it, although no one really knows what happens to a banshee once it's been silenced. They can't necessarily kill you, but they can certainly keep you from going anywhere."**

**"Well then, we'll just have to silence it," Harry said. "Ron, give me your socks!" **

**"WHAT?" Ron exclaimed in shock. "Why do you need my socks?" **

**"Because we need to silence the banshee!" Harry said in exasperation as the banshee continued to hover for the sake of hanjuuluver being able to fit this whole conversation in before the banshee attacked.**

**"Why don't we just use a silencing charm?" Ron whined.**

**"Because we already did that! Just take off the damn socks already! Those smell bad enough that it won't only silence the banshee, it'll probably kill the thing to boot!"**

**"HEY!"**

**"OFF! NOW!"**

**"ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT!" Ron shouted back as he took off his shoes and ripped off his socks.**

**"You have Pooh-Bear socks on," Harry pointed out as he stood at arm's length and took the vile smelling socks.**

**"…" Ron decided not to respond to that. With a shrug Harry stuffed the socks into the mouth of the banshee that had once again started towards them. A look of horror crossed her pale face and suddenly, with a popping sound, a pot of petunias was found sitting on the floor with a pair of Pooh socks draped over them.**

**"Well that was odd…" Hermione declared. Harry nodded his agreement, and Ron retrieved his socks once again, pulling them back on his feet, trying to maintain the little amount of pride he still had left. At least they had never found out about the Dora the Explora underpants….**

**THE END… or is it?**

NOPE! It's not! I still have my A/N to do! Ha! And you thought you were done with me… Couple things to say.

I am SO sorry this took so long to post! Not only did it take me forever to figure out what defenses would be ON the actual horcrux, but I had a ton of homework, sleep deprivation, and an inexplicable obsession with figuring out how to play "Brothers" on the piano (I still suck at it, but I'm getting better!) to distract me from it even more. Once again, SORRY FOR BEING SO LATE!!

I managed to get two more people into the world of FMA fan fiction during the time it took me to start and finish this fic (btw, it's been in the making for the past two weeks or so now. Kind of sad, huh?) One of them, the-happy-moogle-mustang, doesn't have any stories up AS OF YET, but she does have some ideas. The other, Jane Austen Girl, has a couple fics up, one of them co-inspired by me (the one about yoga. Don't ask), and the other… yah, that was mostly NinjaSquirls' fault, but I had some influence as well, I'd like to think. And for any of the previously mentioned people, "COLONEL MUSTANG IS DEAD SEXY!... IN A MINI-SKIRT!!!!!!"

I have a couple ideas of things I want to do, but I'm not sure if I should post them separately, or here as an after attachment, like the random thing about socks I just did. The two ideas I have are, 1) Ed talking about his opinions on religion (this has been playing in my mind for a while, but again, I keep putting it off, but I think I can fit it into chapter 21 if people say they like the idea) and 2) a blurb about how Ed still is in love with Mustang, but was rejected by him and is still trying to get over it.

If you didn't read 3 cuz it was too long, then go read it anyway because it's important. I really want to know this.

I have officially named all 10 of my alter egos. I have also led the way for getting all my friends to name their alter-ego's as well, and we can have rather lengthy conversations on what our alter-egos have been up to lately. It's rather fun.

PLEASE REVIEW!!! I only got 3 reviews on the last chapter, and that kind of made me sad cuz I've been getting at least 6 per chapter lately. If you wish to leave a flame, go ahead. They amuse me. Seriously. In fact, ZZ, if you're reading this, please send me a flame! You can use that random flame generator you found! Those are funny…

That part about being beaten by a book? Yah… personal experience. Thanks to that my inner Fury is dead.

WOW!! I just realized I took up a whole entire page with the crack portion and this A/N. that's impressive. I really know how to ramble, don't I? XD

One last thing. I need to relay some of the notes from my editor, NinjaSqurils, as they are amusing. First, when I write it's instead of its, "I hate you." And then when I called her ZZ in this, "Die a horrible and painful death" and finally, just when she read #6, she promised that I will burn. Gotta love ZZ.


	21. Yurusareru Nara

Ok, Ok, this will not be Ed/Roy and shall remain as Ed/Win. sigh Well, just to let you randomly know, I'm writing this part right after I finished the last one, so let's just see how long it takes me to finish it this time. And, not like anyone cares, but my friend just got fired from her job cuz some really hypercritical co-workers ratted her out for cursing. In the back room!! So none of the customers even heard her!! Now tell me that's perfectly fine. I don't think it is. But now she has to try to find another job near her house because she can't drive yet. Ok, now I'm done with my rant. I'll get on with the fic now.

Last chapter: the unconscious Ed is left behind under several concealing charms. The trio faces and defeats a banshee. They find out what spells have been cast on the cups that are not horcruxs. Ron is found wearing Disney socks. That part isn't important, I just wanted to say it.

**IMPORTANT NOTE!!: If you didn't read the first A/N, you probably should. Also, there is a scene in here that CAN be interpreted as Harry/Sirius, but it's NOT!!! It's just Harry's feelings for the closest thing to a father he ever had, NOT SOMETHING ELSE!! Ok. That's all for this part.**

**Special Editor's Note**: NinjaSquirls, hanjuuluver's amazing, brilliant, awesome, talented, and above all lazy editor, would like to apologize for the extreme lateness of this chapter, as she has had it sitting in her e-mail, waiting to be edited, for almost a month now, and has been completely pathetic and totally ignored it. In her defense, NinjaSquirls would like to point out that finals suck and are evil, especially where calculus is concerned. She would also like it to be acknowledged that this chapter was unusually (NinjaSquirls just lost the game) low on horrible, terrifying errors of spelling and grammar, although she does want to ask hanjuuluver why she can spell "corporeal," but not "that." Hanjuuluver also spelled Sirius' name incorrectly every single time. That is all.

Chapter 20: Yurusareru Nara (1)

The trio had gone through a total of seven rooms so far. Time seemed to stop inside the house, for none of the clocks were working, and each one of the windows had been bewitched to show various scenes that couldn't be real due to the location of the house. None of them knew how long they had been searching, and even if they did have a watch, it wouldn't have mattered. They had each had enough encounters with false horcruxs that by this point the only thing any of them were aware of, aside from their own names and occasionally the fact that they were with two other friends, was that they needed to find the horcrux and get out of the mansion. This was easier said than done. They had now successfully covered one whole floor of the immense building. They still had an additional two floors, and they were all quickly approaching their breaking point.

It hadn't taken them long to realize any injuries sustained during these visions would not only occur in the dream, but to their corporeal selves as well. This meant that if they were killed in their dream, they would actually die. Thankfully, they still had control of their magic in this world, as well as the meager alchemic abilities they had amassed under Ed's guidance. Both of these came in handy more than once, and though all of them had at least five or six scrapes and bruises, it wasn't anything serious. At this point, it wasn't their physical health that was deterring them. It was their mental stability. They had witnessed everything from the deaths of loved ones and the near deaths of themselves, to memories of playing in a park or spending late nights doing homework back in their Hogwarts common room. All these they had pushed aside, either by themselves or with the aid of friends.

With hundreds of vivid dreams playing in the background of their thoughts, always threatening to overwhelm them, the trio decided by a silent consensus that it was time for a short break. Their legs were quickly growing as weary as their minds, and Harry found himself wondering how much longer they could go on like this.

"You guys ok?" he asked in concern.

"Just about as good as you are, mate," Ron said, voice lacking his usual enthusiasm.

"We'll be fine. How many more rooms do you think there are?" Hermione asked through her daze, only vaguely registering that she had said anything at all.

"I don't know. Maybe twelve?"

"How much longer do you think we can hold up?" Ron asked.

"I don't know," Harry replied honestly, "but we have to keep trying. It's got to be here somewhere. If only there was a way to know WHERE!" He screamed in anger as he punched his hand into the cold, stone ground he was currently sitting on.

"We'll just have to deal with what we have and work with it. Come on, let's go. We won't get anywhere if we just stay here resting." Hermione said bluntly to get her companions going again and keep them from dwelling on the doubts they all held.

----------listening to German angst music really helps ones writing!----- I don't even know German!-------------

How much more time passed could not be told, but at last, both Hermione and Ron had reached their limits. Harry was not much better off, but at least he could still think clearly most of the time. His two friends were having more and more difficulty with staying conscious, and would drift off for long periods of time. It had reached a point where they simply couldn't help anymore.

Hermione slowly broke out of her most recent trance, which had lasted much longer than the others had – even after throwing several things at his friend, Harry couldn't get her to come out of it.

"HERMIONE! YOU'RE OK!" Harry said, grateful that she was alright.

"What about Ron?" Hermione asked.

"That last cup seemed to really break him. He's still out of it."

"We'll have to wait. How much further do we have to go?"

"This is the last hall. There's not many more options left to us."

"Harry, you'll have to go on without us."

"NO! I'm not going to leave you here! Who knows what might happen to you?"

"Harry, what might happen to us if we keep this up? I don't know how much longer I can take this. All I know now is that there's no way I can handle contact with one more of those false horcruxs. I hardly even know how much longer I'll be able to stay conscious. We'll be fine. Just leave us here and go on. You can come back for us afterwards," Hermione pressed, trying to support herself with her scratched and bruised arms, wincing slightly at the pain that shot through them, but doing her best to hide it. "Ron, Ron get up."

She shook Ron gently, coercing the boy to slowly wake up from his fevered nightmare.

"Ron, we need to stay here. Harry's the only one who can keep going at this point. Tell him. He won't listen to me."

"She's got a point mate," Ron said from his position on the carpeted floor of the trophy room they had just finished searching. "It's getting to be really hard just to stand up, and it's hard to defeat an enemy that you can't even touch. It's getting even harder to stay alive in these dreams. You really do need to go on without us. We'll be fine. Long as there aren't any spiders," Ron added in a weak attempt to lighten the atmosphere.

Harry looked incredulously at his two best friends for a moment before sighing in defeat.

"Alright. Conceal each other and I'll be back for you as soon as I can."

"Got it," Ron said with a mock salute as he proceeded in casting protection charms on Hermione and she did the same with him.

Harry was now officially on his own. It wasn't like he wasn't used to this by now. After so many battles that were just him against the Dark Lord, he had to be used to this sort of thing. Not only that, but hadn't he been the one who had wanted the two to stay behind since he started his quest to kill the man, no the _thing, _that had killed his parents? This was something he had to do, and something that he had to do himself.

He quickly braced himself, turned around and walked out of the room, leaving his friends behind once again. He did not turn around. He couldn't. It might just be what broke his resolve to go through with this. In all truth, he wasn't holding up much better than they were. The only difference between them and him was he had more drive, and fewer options. They, at least, could always back out. This was his destiny, and he had to face it head on.

**Harry's POV:**

I walk down the empty hallway, which for some reason seems even more desolate than it did before. If the horcrux is anywhere, and it had better be for all the hell it's giving me, it'll probably be in the last room. That means the room at the end of the hall. It has to be there. I walk towards the maple-wood door and lean into it, letting my weight push it open. I don't think my arms would have enough strength for that. As the heavy wood falls away, I catch myself from falling and stagger into the room, memories of my most recent visions swimming in my head, not the least of which includes a re-visit of that night when Voldemort was revived from my blood. Yet another reason he's my responsibility. I lift my head up and look directly at what I can only assume to be the REAL horcrux. I don't know what will happen when I try to take it, but there's no backing out now. This was marked as my fate from the day I was branded by that bastard. I know I've been told a thousand times that there is no such thing as fate or destiny, but I just can't make myself believe that. I know that that's what Dumbledore said, and I know I would throw my life away right now if it could bring him back, but it can't. Despite the fact that I trust in almost everything he ever told me, he wasn't infallible, and so I just can't make myself believe that this could possibly pass out of my hands. Besides, I've come too far to back out now. I continue to walk towards the horcrux. My determination to see this through and the end of this round coming so close to the end gives me strength I didn't think I still had.

I reach out to it, my fingers brush against the cold metal. Then…

**Normal POV:**

Harry found himself in a room so gilded with gold that it seemed to sparkle and shine with a light of its own. The high vaulted ceiling that loomed above him was supported by elegant golden pillars. The radiant beauty of the place seemed otherworldly, ant it very well may have been. Even the circular symbol that seemed to have been drawn on the tiled floor added a certain mysterious intrigue to the room. Only two things kept him from exploring the radiant building.

First, the black arms that attached themselves and kept him from moving; and the dark figure that now stood before him with the face of a man he didn't think he would ever see again outside of his tormenting dreams.

"Sirius? Is… Is that you?" he asked the man with long, scraggily black hair and sunken-in jet-black eyes, hardly daring to hope.

"Yes. It's me, Harry."

The very words Harry wanted to hear most. So why did those words make his mending heart shatter? Why did they give him these pangs of guilt and grief? Why?

"Why does it sound like you don't want to see me?" Harry asked aloud.

"Why? Why not!? Was it not you who caused me to leave my house to save you? Was it not you who caused me to put myself in danger to save you, O 'Boy-Who-Lived?' O 'Chosen One?' Was it not you who was the one who allowed me to be pushed through that wretched arch? Are you not the one who has been the source of all my anguish for all these years?"

"But… Sirius…" Harry's voice came out only as a harsh whisper. He didn't even hear himself saying it. His mind was far too busy recognizing that his godfather had just confirmed all he had thought—no, all he had **_known_** was his fault. All he did was cause pain to those he cared most about.

"Don't give me that, Harry. I don't want to hear it. Just tell me one thing. What are you going to do now? Are you going to continue with your pointless revenge mission? What difference are **_you_**, of all people, going to make?"

This jolted Harry out of his fog. Suddenly, it wasn't just his mistakes Sirius was pointing out, it was the fact he was still making them. Once again, he was endangering the ones he cared about, and what was his excuse? 'They asked to come.' Not only was he risking **_their_** lives for **_his_** mission, but his mission was _pointless_! What could he possibly offer that would make him able to accomplish what thousands of others before him failed at? Dumbledore hadn't even managed to stop him. Really, the only thing that even made him special was the fact that his mother had sacrificed herself to save him.

"Well? What's your answer?" Sirius asked him.

Silence.

Sirius sneered in disgust. "If you can't even resolve yourself, how can you ever hope to accomplish something worthwhile? You're useless. Here," Sirius said as he pulled out a dagger from his back belt loop and tossed it across the glittering floor to Harry, who picked it up. "If you end it now, it would fulfill the prophesy, and there's a good chance that you'll manage to keep from being the cause of your friends deaths like you were mine."

Harry stared into the blade, which mirrored his dead looking emerald-green eyes. The eyes of the mother he had caused to die so that he could live his own life.

"It would only hurt for a minute, and then all your pain would be gone." The voice was enticing, for it spoke the truth, but as Harry's hand moved, seemingly of its own, the flash of light reflected in the cool steel seemed to awaken something inside him. His drive was again brought to his mind. The **_reason_** he was living through this madness.

"To save them," Harry said with conviction.

"What?" Sirius asked in confusion.

"The reason I'm still alive, the reason I keep fighting is for them. All those people out there who would rather submit to death, pain, and torture than stand up for themselves. If they can't stand up for themselves, then who will? I will not sink so low as to kill all their hopes just to erase my pain. Besides, my life isn't as bad as that. Sure, I've had more than my share of bad things happen to me, but I'm still here, and I've gotten the joy of having friends like Ron and Hermione. I've gotten to do things most kids could only **_dream_** of!" Harry examined the dagger once more before sliding it back across the floor to his godfather. "And I got to meet you. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a job to do." And with that, Harry turned around and walked back through the stone gate from which he had just come, not seeing the proud smile that flitted across the other man's face before he faded away, leaving the glittering room behind.

--------

Harry suddenly found himself back in the small, dark room. His right hand was clasped firmly around the golden goblet that was the actual horcrux. At some point he must have collapsed onto his knees, as his position was now a crouched one, his right arm tingling from lack of blood circulation. He stood up, still grasping the cup tightly, and took the cup with him as he staggered back out of the room to gather his friends.

He smiled as he found his friends right where he had left them, and quickly undid all the spells placed on them.

"Are you two OK?" he asked, panting slightly from exertion.

"Yes. A little dazed, but we're alright," Hermione answered as she stood up. "What about you? Are you alright?"

"I'll live," Harry said with a slight smirk. "Come on. We still have to get Ed and get out of here. We can worry about destroying this once we're out of here."

"Got it," Ron said as he picked himself up from off the ground. The trio walked out of the room and turned into the long corridor.

Once they reached the spot they had left Ed, Hermione removed all the spells they had placed on him.

"What the hell is wrong with you three? Leaving me here immobilized for hours? Do you have any idea how bored I was? I've been counting the number of wood planks since I woke up!" Ed ranted the moment the silencing spell was removed.

"Sorry, but it would have been more than a little challenging to levitate you from room to room until you regained consciousness. Besides, how much use could a guy with only one arm be to us?" Harry jibed.

"Puh. Rub it in why don't you? Speaking of which, what did I miss?"

"We'll tell you later. Right now, I'd just like to get out of this place. Do you still refuse to Apparate? Because I can tell you right now, it would be a lot easier than trying to get through the forest again. This way we can land just outside it and avoid the trouble."

"Fine, but don't start thinking I'm going to go along with that from now on, because I'm not. One time thing." Ed retorted.

"Isn't that what you said last time?" Harry asked as he used his free hand to grab hold of the short alchemist before appearing away.

----------

(1): And if it can be forgiven. This is a line from UNDO, and I'm listening to it now, and thought, hey, why not! So that's why the title is in Japanese. Don't like it? Well than the other name I was going to use was "Visions" so you can call it that too. Happy now?

A/N: Ok, about 80 percent of this was written while I was listening to that angsty-sounding German song, so I blame it on that. Also, I wrote half of this on the day I started it, and the rest of it about two days later! Aren't you proud of me? And not like it matters, but this fic is now over 100 pages long. That's pretty damn awesome. Ed will probably be in the next chapter unless I get another plot bunny that pushes its way between this chapter and the next. Well, let me know what you think of this chappie! Everyone loves a little input and, of course, constructive criticism is always welcomed. As are flames. They make me laugh. Probably because in my case they're usually true! Lol…


	22. Ashita e

**A/N:** Hey there! I'm back! And it snowed in New Mexico! Not just regular New Mexico snow, which will usually melt in about an hour, but real snow! It's lasted for almost a week, and they canceled school today, and the rest of the week!! I can't remember ever seeing this much snow! Well, except for when I went to Alaska, but that really shouldn't count. Anywho, there was supposed to be an update already while I was in Florida to visit with my grandparents for two weeks but it didn't happen because I gave the chapter to NinjaSquirls to edit right before finals. Understandably, she couldn't get to editing it until school got out for winter break, but since I was in Florida, I asked her to just post it for me since I gave her access to my account. She said she would, but she didn't, so NOT MY FAULT!!! This is one of the two chapters I wrote while in Florida. I'm going to type the other chapter up after this, and it should be posted in about a week or so. Also, for anyone who was wondering about the cup thing, the false ones were like mirages, and I took that thing about injuries from some random superstitions about dreams. You know that thing that says if you die in a dream you die for real? Well that's what I took it from. As for the real cup, it shows whoever touches it the thing they feel most guilty about. In Harry's case it was Sirius. And for anyone who actually reads this, here's a little tidbit. I am using foreshadowing in that scene!! I can't tell you exactly how, because that would totally ruin my wonderful idea, but now you know that it is important! On a similar note, while I was taking a shower the other day I decided to figure out what everyone else would see. So here it is!

Ed: Alphonse blaming him for making him a suit of armor and saying, "you probably knew you could get my body back by sacrificing yourself, so why didn't you do it sooner? Why did you make me live like that for so long?" and then bring up how resurrecting their mother had been his idea in the first place and so on and so forth.

Ron: Ginny blaming him for not noticing she had been possessed to do the bidding of Voldy and not trying to stop her. "It's your fault I was taken down there in the first place! You should have noticed! You should have stopped me!"

Hermione: her parents being disappointed in her for being a witch and then dropping out of school. "We worked so hard to keep your freakishness a secret from everyone else. From your old friends and your old teachers. Not to mention the family because we weren't allowed to tell them. And how do you thank us? You drop out to be with your friends and refuse to tell us why."

Disclaimer: Repeat after me: huge Barnes and Noble gift cards, while awesome, can only be used to purchase FMA merchandise, not Ed, Roy, and the right to force them to make out on TV. Heck, I don't even own this disclaimer! It belongs to NinjaSquirls.

**Ashita e**

After the group Apparated out of the forest, they found a small abandoned hut, about two miles from the edge of the forest, but still far enough away from the city they wouldn't need to worry about being noticed. Hermione still set up some defensive wards around the building, just to be safe. The group was currently huddled around the lit fireplace in the living room.

"Well, that's one more horcrux down. That means we still have…three more to go," Harry said while Ed started transmuting all the tools they would need to fix up his automail.

"But we don't even know what one of them is," Hermione said. "Ed, did you find anything else out from that journal yet?"

"Nothing of relevance to the mission. Do any of you know any sterilizing techniques? I need to make sure this blade is clean, because we're going to need to move the automail a little higher up on my arm," Ed pointed out, waving around the small blade he had just transmuted for Harry to use. The trio was slightly shocked at how lightly the small alchemist was taking this, but Hermione silently preformed the necessary incantation and sterilized the tools Ed had already finished with.

"Thanks. Ok Harry, I'll instruct you through this step by step. I've already transmuted the pieces of the automail back together, but it still needs to have the nerves re-attached after we put the arm port on. To be honest, I don't know NEARLY as much about this kind of stuff as Winry does, but she did teach me a little of it so I could take care of it better when I was gone on long missions. Luckily, I have a good memory. But first I have a question I need to ask you."

Harry nodded, "what is it?"

"Why do you continue with this quest of yours? What's the point behind it?" Hermione and Ron watched in silence as Harry tried to come up with an answer.

"To help all the people who won't stand up to Voldemort. If they don't, then I will for them," Harry answered instantly. Last time he had asked this question it had been deemed satisfactory, so why not now?

"There are other people who are willing to do the same thing. Why does it have to fall to you? It's not like it's your fault he is the way he is, and he's not your responsibility," Ed pointed out.

"That's not true. The prophecy said that—"

"So you're risking your life to fulfill a destiny someone else assigned you?"

"Well, yes."

"Well then let me tell you something. I don't believe in destiny, or fate, or whatever you want to call it. I think those who try to hide behind the thoughts of 'it was meant to be this way,' and 'what happens, happens and I can't do anything to change it,' are weak. You can do incredible things, but if you do them thinking that it's your fate, it doesn't carry half the conviction. It's only human nature to put all your beliefs in someone else and believe that they control your fate when you're younger, but when you get older you need to start taking responsibility for your own actions and stop hiding behind your excuses! If you do that, then you're clinging to childish teachings and perceptions, finding comfort in them in a world that is far more complex and dark. You start to find it easier to close off new possibilities and stay with your own black and white views of life and of right and wrong. And when you do that, you close yourself off from so many opportunities. It's just like with religion. All these people following blindly because they assume that if they do as they are told, they will be happy. All it is is a constant assertion of fear. Fear of everyday life. Fear of sorrow. Fear of death and the utter meaninglessness of life. Fear of changing that life so it _has_ meaning. Fear of going against the God they have put all their faith in. fear of taking on the responsibilities of their mistakes. If you keep living like you don't have a choice in the matter, how can you even begin to expect to get anything done? Now tell me again, and this time I want a _real_ answer, why are you doing this?" Ed asked, looking straight into Harry's eyes, making it clear that there was no way he could avoid the question. He didn't speak for a while, and when he did, it was with tentativeness. "I… I'm doing this because I know it's right. I can't quite explain it, but… I guess the best way to put it is from something I remember reading at one point. 'The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but those who look on and do nothing.' (1) I feel as if I don't do anything, I might as well be _supporting_ Voldemort. And since I am one of the few people who is willing to give my life to a good cause, that gives me even more of a reason to do something about it. So I guess you could say that I'm doing this for myself."

"In the end, most great things _are_ done that way. But now I think I can understand why you're doing this. It's not too far off from what me and my brother tried to do before, and almost exactly why Roy is still trying to become Fuhrer back at home. As long as you remember that dedication, and don't let anyone make you think that you _have_ to do this, I know you will succeed. Now, let's get started on fixing my arm. First, pick up that blade Hermione just cleaned and peel off the skin to the cut in my shoulder," Ed said, indicating the gash that had been created just above his collarbone at the base of his neck. At the look of uncertainty he saw in Harry's eyes Ed added, "Don't worry. You'll do fine."

"It's not me I'm worried about," Harry mumbled under his breath as he moved the blade up to the thin layer of tissue that had been under the automail port before they had removed it and slowly began to peel off small strips of Ed's skin, just like he had been instructed to. Ed gritted his teeth, but made sure not to move or scream so as not to make the other boy more worried than he already was. Once this part was done, Ed let out a soft sigh of relief before instructing Harry further. "Good job. Now all we have to do is screw in the port. That's not too hard. All you have to do is push it over my shoulder until it can't go any further, and then just put the screws in the holes and screw them into the shoulder bone. Hermione, could you sterilize the screws too?"

"Ok, Ed," Hermione agreed as she cast the spell again. "Are you doing alright?"

"Well, I've been better, but considering the circumstances there really isn't any help for it. Harry's doing a great job though."

Harry silently started to do as Ed had instructed him, shocked that Ed could speak so clearly after what he just went through. This only made Harry more curious of the small blond's past, but at the same time, he wasn't sure he really wanted to know.

---twenty minutes later---

"Now, put in that last screw and then you can just attach the arm to the port, flip that switch on the side, and we'll be done here. Mind you, I probably won't be much use for about a day after this. That won't be a problem, will it?" Ed asked while Harry started putting in the last screw in to secure the arm port.

"Not at all. It's not like we know where we're going next or anything," Hermione answered for the group.

"You have a point there," Ed smirked as Harry finished his job. "Ok, now just flip that switch where the arm meets the port."

"Sure," Harry said, wondering why it looked like Ed had tensed so much. He did as he was told, and jumped back slightly at the shock that ran through the metal and connected all of Ed's nerves to the automail.

"AGHH!" Ed exclaimed as he tried to stifle the scream of pain. Strangely, Ron was the first to react. Probably because he had been witness to many an injury, generally having something to do with his brothers.

"We need to find a place to lay him down, and maybe cool him off. I think there's a bedroom in the next room. It would probably be better to levitate him than try to carry him in there."

"Right," Harry said as he levitated his unconscious friend while Hermione conjured a bucket of water and a towel, and then followed behind.

---------------

"I don't think I've ever seen Ed that serious before," Ron said solemnly as they sat around the living room fire again.

"He had a reason to be. After all, he is risking his life for our… no, for _my_ cause. He wanted to know for certain we knew what we were getting into and were willing to sacrifice to achieve it," Harry said, leaving out the part that Ed had just asked what Sirius had asked him in his vision when he had grabbed hold of the cup. Nor did he say how it had helped him re-affirm his belief in the cause and how he had been going about everything only half-heartedly. He briefly wondered if Ed had known this when he had spoken.

"I suppose you're right. But it really does sound like he's speaking from experience. He must have been through a lot, and I get the feeling that he's barely told us half of it," Hermione mused.

"That's true, but judging by what we _do_ know, sometimes I figure I'd rather not know all of it. I can't even begin to imagine what kind of things he has to face alone everyday," Ron said, voicing the thoughts that Harry himself had only a short time ago.

"Well, it looks like he's going to be out for tonight at least, and probably several hours tomorrow, so we might as well figure out what we're doing next," Harry announced, changing the topic.

Hermione blinked, but followed along. "Well, the only horcruxs left that we know of are the snake and the locket. We know the snake will be near Voldemort himself, and so it would make sense to go after her last. That leaves us with finding the locket or figuring out that clue we found in Gryffindor's journal."

"Right. The only problem with that is we have no idea where the locket is, and have no idea what _or_ where the other horcrux is," Harry pointed out.

"If Dumbledore were still… you know, we could have asked him," Ron said sadly.

"Yah. He would have known what to do. WAIT! There _is_ a way we could ask him!" Harry exclaimed excitedly, quickly standing up as he spoke. Hermione and Ron looked up to him in questioning hope.

"How?" Hermione asked.

"The portraits! In the headmaster's office there are portraits of all the past headmasters! Dumbledore will _have_ to be up there! We could go to Hogwarts and ask him! He might be able to help! Not to mention that we could pick up Gryffindor's sword while we're there!" Harry explained as he paced the length of the room, his shadow making an interesting pattern as he moved in front of the fireplace.

"Good idea! And I've been missing our library terribly since we've left. I've been through all these books about a million times. I can practically recite them all from memory by now!" Hermione exclaimed in exasperation.

"And that's unusual how?" Ron asked innocently.

"RON!" Hermione exclaimed, tossing a scolding glare at him that would have impressed Mrs. Weasley. Harry laughed.

"It's decided then. In two days, we will take a bus to the London train station. We'll call your mom, Ron, and ask her to owl Professor McGonagall and ask her if she could send the Hogwarts Express to the station so we can take that to Hogwarts. It'll be better than Apparation for three reasons. First, it will attract less unwanted attention from muggles, as well as from ministry, and Death Eaters who could be tracking magic usage. Second, it will be safer for Ed in his current condition. No matter how well he's trying to make himself look, there's no way he could have recovered from those attacks yet, which brings me to the third point. Even if he _was_ fully recovered, I don't think he was joking when he said he would never Apparate again, and I don't think it would be wise to Apparate with him when he's not paying attention," Ron and Hermione winced at the thought of Ed's wrath (A/N: not the homunculi Wrath) being directed at them for trying something like that and agreed with Harry's plan before going to bed for the night.

--------I LOVE THE SNOW!!----------

(1): quote by Calbert Einstein. No, I don't know who he is either.

A/N: I did most of the important A/N at the beginning, but for anyone who is wondering, the title means I leave tomorrow. Which isn't totally accurate, as they all leave the day AFTER tomorrow (and no, that was not in reference to the movie). Oh well. Ummm… I was going to say something important… what was it… oh yah! I posted a Spiral fic, a yaoi fic, and a crack fic. Check em out if you want to, and as always, drop a review! Not hard, just press a button, write a little something, even if it's just a random bunch of letters like aoeiwrya, or something. It lets me know who's reading, and if I know who's reading, I might just leave a review for them! Equivalent exchange, no?


	23. Tooku Hikari

Ok, I finally got this up! For those of you wondering why I took so damn long, it's cuz I know absolutely nothing about sparring and so I did research on it so I could get this done. Yes, I, the lazy person who would much rather not, actually did research on this! I didn't find too much to use, and I took what I got from various sources that don't really match up at all, but that's ok! Hopefully it turned out alright.

Chapter 23: Tooku Hikari (Far away light)

'_So this is what the afterlife smells like,'_ Ed thought before his brain started functioning and he remembered he was just asleep and the smell was that of cheap coffee, bacon, and eggs. A simple breakfast, but he was used to eating simply. (1)

Ed groaned as he sat up and scratched the back of his head, vaguely registering that his braid was coming out and he should re-do it at some point. In the meantime, he stumbled out of bed and followed the smell of coffee. God, he needed coffee. Damn Roy and his contagious coffee addictions… but he had to admit, Roy's coffee was delicious. (2)

"Wow, mate! You look horrible! No wonder you always wake up before anyone else!"

"Ron, you can hardly talk! You look just as bad!" Hermione scolded him. As Ed's blurry vision started to clear, he noticed that Ron was rubbing the back of his head where Hermione had probably just slapped him.

"Just give me some coffee," Ed sighed as he staggered over to them, collapsed on the chair on the other side of Ron, grabbed a cup from the table, and took the pot of coffee that Hermione extended to him while pointing out that he should have said, "please." After Ed finished his second cup of coffee, he decided to ask what time it was. Not that the time really held much significance.

"Ten thirty," Hermione said, looking at her watch. "You've been out an entire day. Are you okay?"

"That's an obvious question. If I've been out for a day, do you think I'd be ok? By the way, where's Harry?" Ed answered her, not caring to be polite. (3)

"He headed into town as a dog to check the train schedules and scout the area for any Death Eaters that may have located us. We were planning to head out this afternoon. We've already contacted the Order and asked them to owl Hogwarts for us," Ron answered.

"I'm missing something here. What are you guys talking about?" Ed asked as poured himself a third cup of watery coffee, convinced that he couldn't be awake yet if he thought he just heard Ron talk about owling a hog's wart, whatever that meant.

"Hogwarts was the school we went to, and we thought that… well, you'll figure out the details once we get there, but we have a contact there that could help us work out where to look for the last two horcruxs. Not to mention I can update my resources while we're there," Hermione explained, choosing to leave out that their "contact" was a dead teacher's portrait that could move and talk.

"Alright. That sounds good. Hey, maybe in the spare time I could teach you some sparring," Ed suggested. "It wouldn't be much, as I still need a few hours to recuperate."

"Sure. That sounds like a great idea," Ron agreed.

"We can take one of the later trains, but it would be safer to take the trip while it's still day-time. There would be less of a chance for a Death Eater attack," Hermione noted.

"Good point. Alright, we'll wait for Harry to come back and then we can get started." Just as Ed finished his sentence there was a barking noise followed by a dog scratching at the door, asking to be let in.

"That'll be Harry. I'll go let him in," Hermione said as she stood to get the door.

"Why doesn't he just change back and get the door himself?" Ed asked.

"First, it might draw attention, and second, Hermione put a ward on the door that shocks anyone who comes in the door without being invited and sets off alarms, so we would all end up attacking him thinking he was someone else," Ron explained with a slight grin at the thought of attacking his best friend, The-Boy-Who-Lived, for trying to get in the door of his own temporary house.

"Ah," Ed said as Hermione led Harry into the room.

"Hermione told me about the sparring. Great idea. We can take the three o'clock train, stay in Hampshire over night, and then continue on to London on the 11 o'clock train the next morning and catch the Hogwarts express at about five. Not as fast as a plane, but safer and less expensive." Harry declared as he sat down across from the group and snatched a piece of bacon Ed had been about to get.

"Hey! I was gunna take that!" Ed glared at Harry.

"Oh well," Harry said with a shrug as he ate the bacon, "I see you're feeling better, though you don't really look like it. What's with your hair?"

"What? Is it 'Insult Ed Day,' or something? Give me a break; I just went through automail surgery all over again! There really should be a law against mocking someone who's in pain. (4)" Ed complained as he took a second portion of over-cooked eggs, since his bacon was taken.

"Your hair still looks awful," Ron sniggered. He received a glare as well and Ed took out his hair tie while muttering something about better than a palm-tree as he shook out what remained of the braid, then transmuted a hairbrush from the corner of the table and brushed it out.

"There, is that better?" he asked rhetorically, putting as much venom as possible into his words before turning back to his food.

"Now you look like a girl!" Ron laughed. (5)

"Screw you," Ed said as he finished his eggs and coffee. "I'm going to go take a shower in the back. Anyone who tries to follow me or go through my stuff while I'm not looking dies.

"Not very friendly this morning, is he?" Ron asked in mock seriousness.

--------QUACK!! I'M A COW!----------

Ten minutes later, Ed walked back in wearing black jeans and a tank top, braided hair hanging limp and dripping down his back.

"If anyone else wants a shower, I left it running. I transmuted it out in the back yard."

"How did you get back in without one of us letting you in?" Hermione asked.

"I transmuted a tunnel. I didn't want to bother making a fool of myself. Don't worry, I transmuted it back again."

"You're impossible, you know that?" Hermione asked in exasperation.

"Yup, and proud of it. Now do you want a shower or not? I promise none of us'll look."

"Fine," she said in resignation and conjured some towels, soap, and shampoo as well as a fresh pair of clothes.

"You might want to change into exercise clothes if you can manage it. It'll make things a lot easier for you. Same goes for you two," Ed said, turning to Harry and Ron. "Trust me; it'll be much easier that way."

"What about you? You're wearing jeans!" Ron said before thinking (6).

"I've been sparring in leather pants for years; wearing these pants will make it even easier for me."

"Go ahead and rub it in, why don't you," Ron said dejectedly. Harry and Ed laughed at him as Hermione left with a new pair of sweats and an orange tank top.

-------shiny things are fun-------

"Ok, I'm going to start with teaching you the basics," Ed said to the trio standing before him in various exercise clothes. "This means stances, footwork, and balance. It'll probably seem weird at first, but it's absolutely necessary. You won't be able to land a kick if you can't even balance on one leg." The trio nodded in recognition. "Good, so we'll start with reverse triangle pose. This will let you get some more balance. First, stand with your feet about three feet apart. Now turn your right foot out, and then twist your torso and put your left hand on your right ankle. Try not to land on someone when you fall, Ron," Ed pointed out to Ron who had just collapsed on Hermione (7).

"It's a lot harder than it looks!" Ron protested as he hastened to stand back up and hide the blush that made his face match his hair.

"Try again. Once everyone can hold this pose for one minute we can move on." Ed said, choosing to ignore the fact that both Harry and Hermione had managed to fall during the short conversation he had been having with Ron. _'I wonder if I should have started them off with a regular triangle pose. That way they would have been able to get used to it a little more first. Oh well, at least I get a laugh out of this,'_ Ed thought as Harry fell over sideways again.

Once the trio had managed to successfully hold triangle pose for an entire minute (which took about ten or fifteen minutes, in which several bruises had probably developed from falling into various objects and each other) Ed moved on to the next pose. "Alright, this one is called crane pose. It's also simple in concept, but much more difficult in practice. Grab one leg with your opposite hand, and extend your other hand out in front of you and tilt forward. This one I only want you to hold for twenty seconds." This time Hermione was the first one to fall over. Ed silently made a bet that Harry would be the first next time. Maybe he'd make it a headstand. That would be amusing. And helpful. But mostly amusing. Ed vaguely pondered when he had become so sadistic. He shrugged it off, which resulted in him falling over as well. "Kuso…" he cursed, "automail recovery sucks."

"HA! That time it wasn't me!" Ron exclaimed, clearly happy that he was still standing on one foot, despite the fact that he was wobbling around so much a small gust of wind could have knocked him over.

"Don't get too excited. I'm out of practice, not to mention I have a slight disability at the moment. Hermione, you've already managed to hold it for twenty seconds. Switch legs and do the same thing. After that, just do simple stretches for a while until Ron gets it. Harry, same for you."

-------------I got tired of writing it all out so I'm doing this again---------------

After about three hours, Ed had gone through seven different balance poses, taught them twelve different fighting stances, and had finished telling them how to improve footwork. The group took a break for lunch and got right back to it.

"Now, the first thing you should know before you really start sparring is that there is a strategic science to sparring. From the outside, it looks like random kicks and punches thrown mercilessly with the objective being to injure. From the inside, however, a sparring match is like a chess game. One could not win a game of chess by mindlessly moving around the pieces anymore than one could win a sparring match by mindlessly throwing techniques. Strategy is prerequisite to chess as well as to sparring (8). Now, different people will have different advantages. When you're in the middle of a fight, you want to keep your advantages in mind, and use them as best as you can. Ron, you're taller, so you should try to stay relatively far away from your opponent if they're shorter than you are, that way you can hit them, but they'll have a hard time hitting you. Hermione, you're lighter, so you'll want to use speed as your advantage. Harry, you're like me. You're shorter, AND IF ANYONE SAYS ANYTHING, I WILL SEE TO YOUR VIOLENT MAIMING! So you will want to get in close enough that you're too far in range for your partner to kick. I'll spar with you, Ron, Hermione, you two pair up and try throwing punches at each other. Dodge, catch, throw off your partner's balance, whatever you can manage. We'll stay away from kicks for now, because I haven't taught you any techniques for that yet, but punching is simple enough. We'll work on that for half an hour and see where we get."

Harry's POV:

Harry knew Ed was still recovering from surgery, so at first he only threw the occasional weak blow, because he did not want to hurt Ed. It didn't take him long to figure out that even this didn't slow him down much (9). He quickly figured out that in addition to being paired up because they were both of similar size, Ed also probably wanted to train him the most. After all, it was Harry's mission, so he would need to be prepared for it.

"Harry, when you punch, I want you to tuck your thumb in so it leaves the knuckles out more. This will be a lot more painful if you manage to land a punch. Also, your defending arm, the one you're not using to punch with, should be slightly tilted, so it covers your chest and side, and your hand is angled towards your punching arm. This should help you aim a little better. Try it."

"Like this?" Harry asked, positioning his arms as Ed had directed.

"Almost, but notice that your shoulders are uneven. You want to keep your shoulders level, and just slightly forward. It'll let you put more power into your punch. And don't slouch, that restricts movement," Ed instructed. Harry did as he was told. "Good. Now try hitting me again, and don't hold back."

Harry noticed that Ed had been right. With the new stance, he had a lot more power, and his punch almost landed on Ed's left shoulder. Almost, but not quite. Instead, Ed shifted to the right at the last second and landed a blow to Harry's right side using his left hand.

"OW!" Harry exclaimed indignantly, despite the hit being less powerful than the previous blows, some of which were already transforming into small purple and blue bruises.

"You're getting better now. You should really start combining defense with offence. If someone comes at you with a punch, move out of the way if you can, and if you can't then try to catch it. Usually ducking is a bad idea, because it makes it hard to move away and leaves you open, but sometimes it's your only chance. Now next time I come at you, you need to try to anticipate my moves. Try again."

Harry attempted another punch, and it glanced off Ed's right arm (which meant Harry hurt himself more than he hurt Ed) because Ed dodged left and tried the same move as before, aiming at Harry's side. This time Harry stepped back and punched again right as Ed was, which somehow resulted in him actually hitting Ed's left shoulder blade. Harry was so surprised by this he paused for a moment, which consequently led to him being smacked upside the head.

"Don't just stand there in shock if you actually manage to do what you were trying to do. It kinda defeats the whole purpose," Ed pointed out. Harry sighed. He was going to be in a lot of pain the next morning.

Ron's POV:

Ron had never thought Hermione would be so good at fighting. Sure, he had seen her sock Malfoy once in their third year, but he thought that was just a one time thing. She punched hard!

"How did you get so good?" Ron asked, only realizing he had spoken aloud when Hermione responded to his question.

"Growing up in the muggle world helps, I guess," she said with a shrug, before punching him in the arm again. "Are you even trying, Ron?"

"Yes I'm trying! It's just not working!" He complained, making another pathetic attempt to hit her in the arm.

"Really, Ron. It's not like you're going to hurt me! This is for your practice just as much as mine! Try, Ronald!" And try he did, although he didn't land one until after another twenty more minutes of practice, at which point Ed called it quits and advised everyone to wash up and maybe take a nap before they left for the train.

------------Tooku Hikari-----------

(1) For anyone who has read Full Circle, I was thinking of that. "So, the afterlife smells like frying bacon and eggs, he thought. Interesting."—Nike Femme

(2): Both Kate and Maude (NinjaSquirls muse) are smirking at this. It was mostly Kate's idea.

(3): In this, I took my inspiration from what I'm like in the morning. Apparently, NinjaSquirls is the same way. Can you tell we're not morning people?

(4): This quote was actually taken from the episode, though it is slightly modified. NinjaSquirls recognized that fact and promptly decided she was doomed. You know you're a rabid fangirl when…

(5): if you don't like yaoi, I would recommend not reading this particular footnote, or the next one. That being said, yaoi comment!: 'Tis true. Hair-down Ed is hot, but slightly girly. Which greatly amuses Roy.

(6): When did he ditch the leather and get jeans? Inner Roy wants leather! (Outer Ed just smacked Inner Roy though, so you should probably keep the jeans).

(7): Heh. Ron sucks at yoga.

(8): This excerpt, along with the one about advantages mostly comes from http :// home (dot) (dot) html not from me, so I take no credit for that.

(9): Actually in the movie he doesn't need any recovery time. Once Winry gives him his new automail he just gets up and goes. I'm mostly just having the recovery time to match better with the series, since this takes place _instead_ of the movie.

A/N: In case anyone was wondering about where I got the two balance poses, they're from yoga. I took yoga last semester first block for a fine arts credit. Twas fun. Minus the pain and falling onto people. Yes, I did that rather often. I lack coordination. Apparently so does Jane Austen Girl and Happy-Moogle-Mustang, because they were in my yoga class and fell a lot too. Yaoi lovers will like the posted plot bunny of Jane Austen Girl entitled FMA Yoga, which she just finished. I was her inspiration for the yoga teacher, as I beat her with my yoga mat periodically. That was even more fun. Also, our first real drabble for the drabble contest is up as of 8:00 Tuesday, January 16. Please check them out, but if you are completely against yaoi you probably will want to avoid it. It's actually in our rules that no Ed/Win or Royai can be in them, nor any other pairing with Ed or Roy. Yes, we're hopeless. We live with it. Now in reference to the next chapter, I only have a very general idea of what I want to happen in that chapter, so it might take a little longer to get up unless Kate decides to stop plotting with Maude, Flossy, and Nattalitious long enough to actually help me with the chapter. Reviews motivate her. They really do. Even flames, for all of me finds that amusing. (I have to refer to myself in plural from time to time otherwise my alter-egos get mad cuz they think I forgot about them. NinjaSquirls is in the same predicament.)

NinjaSquirls says: Yay! I have been quoted! We thank you.


	24. Hogwarts

Ok, so here's the new chapter! I'd like to start out by saying that the late update was **NOT MY FAULT!!!** My editor, NinjaSquirls, has had this chapter for over a month and just sent this to me last night at around 10. and I'm posting it now. I already have the next chapter done, so assuming she gets it edited, it should be up in about a week. Alright, on to the fic related babbling. I hope no one minds that I skip all the way to boarding the Hogwarts Express. Also, this particular chapter is probably going to be less original than my others, because Ed is actually going to Hogwarts, so he's going to have the same reactions to things as he does in all the other fics. It can't be helped. I mean, if you had a background like Ed's and suddenly came to a place where you could walk through walls, inanimate objects such as stairs moved, dead people walked around and called themselves ghosts, and you're supposed to talk to a painting of some old dead guy you'd be freaked out too. None-the-less, keep in mind how much making Ed do that torments me because he does the same thing in almost every single HP/FMA crossover that's been written. It made me smack my head into the wall for doing that but, again, it had to be done. That said, on to the chapter! Which actually has a title in English again. I ran out of fun names…

Disclaimer: Yes, I do own FMA. That is why I'm incredibly poor, have absolutely no artistic talent, am still in high school, and write fan fiction. What, none of that makes sense? –sigh- guess that means I still don't own it.

Ch 24: Hogwarts

The train ride to the London train station was remarkably uneventful. It was somewhat of a habit at this point that they not openly discuss potentially useful information. You never knew who might be listening in. This certainly did not help alleviate the boredom of a twelve hour train ride. This being said, Ed was remarkably happy to be in a bustling, energetic crowd of people, and was only vaguely put off that he had absolutely no idea where he was going. However, it did contribute to the fact that upon being told to walk into a solid wall, he was fairly certain it was only some weird dream. Like the time he had dreamt he was squashing flying fluffy, pink, rabbit-like puff-balls with a retractable machete. He never did figure out why that had happened.

"Ed? Are you paying any attention?" Hermione asked, after Ed had held his silence, with a glazed over look on his face, for several minutes.

"Sorry, what?" He asked.

"Ed, you need to walk through the wall. It's the only way to get to the platform," Harry attempted to clarify. He just got a blank look in response. "Ron, you go through so he can see."

"Got it," Ron replied and ran right through the wall, disappearing entirely.

"What the hell? Ok, now I know I'm dreaming. Where's the pink rabbits?" Ed asked aloud, looking around for the elusive creatures, positive they were around there somewhere.

"What rabbits?" Hermione and Harry asked simultaneously.

"The rabbits that fly in my face whenever I get weird dreams," Ed answered the dream-friends who weren't.

"Ed, you're not dreaming. Can you just go through the gate already? We really don't want to be running late. McGonagall won't be happy with us if we are," Hermione said impatiently.

"Nope, not gonna happen. I'd rather not give myself a concussion," Ed refused stubbornly, crossing his arms.

"Oh, come on already!" Hermione said, finally giving up and just dragging the alchemist through the barrier.

"AH!" Ed shouted before seemingly passing through a solid wall.

"Glad that's over with," Harry commented before following.

Upon crossing through the barrier, Ed was amazed at the giant, fire-engine red locomotive sitting in front of him. "How the hell did they get this here? How is it that no one notices? I mean, it's just beyond the wall! I realize that magic is the reigning force here, compared to alchemy, but there is no logical way this could work! Well, unless it transports you somewhere else, like that apparation of yours, but then it would feel horrible, wouldn't it? Are we still in London? If it transports you, why doesn't it just drop you right in front of the school? It isn't very practical, and then there's the matter of…"

"Ed, breathing is good. I can't understand a word you're saying," Harry stated. Leave it to Ed to complicate things.

"Sorry, but this just isn't logical. I'd like to learn how this works; figure out how it's possible," Ed explained.

"Ah. Well, right now we need to get on the train. It should be leaving in only about ten minutes," Harry said, walking up to the train and disappearing beyond the entrance. Ron shrugged his shoulders and looked at Hermione, then followed Harry. Ed came last, making a point of examining the surface of the train, looking for scratches, elasticity, or any other signs that might explain the train's inexplicable presence beyond the stone pillar dividing platforms nine and ten.

Once Ed had finally got on the train, Harry sighed in playful exasperation at his friend's unrelenting curiosity for all things unexplained (1). "Come on, let's find a compartment."

"Ok, sure. Anybody got cards?" Ed asked.

"I'm not playing with you again. You cheat," Hermione stated while the group walked further back the train.

"Have you ever seen me cheat?" Ed asked honestly.

"Well, no, but there's no way you could actually win every single game!" Ed shrugged his shoulders at the accusation and followed Ron and Harry into one of the compartments.

The short trip was more or less uneventful. Ed taught the trio some more alchemy, giving some pointers on how to refine their transmutations, and Hermione gave Ed a few more magic lessons. The most eventful part was when Ed decided to let the trio try their luck with the pyrotex gloves. Ed thanked whatever powers there may be that only _one_ compartment exploded. They could fix that at the magic school, right? He certainly hoped so, because there was now a gaping hole in the side of the train, and no materials for him to transmute it back. Not to mention he still hadn't figured out what the damn train was made of. At least there weren't any small, screaming children on _this_ train.

The small group of teenagers disembarked from the train upon reaching the town of Hogsmeade, right outside the gates to the castle. Harry sent his Patronus to let McGonagall know that they were there.

After only ten minutes, the group saw a small figure hurrying over to them from the castle. It turned out to be McGonagall herself.

"Professor," the trio greeted her with nods.

"Yes, yes. Time for formalities later. It's getting dark, and you three should know by now how dangerous that is. You too, Mr. Elric," the former teacher replied.

"Please, call me Ed. It sounds less like you're trying to kill me." (2)

"Alright Ed, that's a reasonable request. Now for heavens sake, hurry up!" She scolded, looking around to make sure no one else was there, and then turned around and started walking back to the castle. The group of four followed her.

"So what's been going on here since we left? Did many students come back?" Hermione asked.

"Only a few hundred students enrolled this year, as compared with the thousands we had before _he_ returned. Panic levels rose and parents stopped thinking rationally. They got the unfathomable idea that their students would be better protected outside of the school and foolishly forgot that their children have little background in magical defense. We've lost several teachers as well. Fortunately, the castle hasn't gone under siege like it did last year when the Death Eaters attacked; however there have been several sightings in Hogsmeade. Things haven't been looking up. How's your search been going?"

"We've come to a dead end. That's why we came here. We figured that perhaps Dumbledore could help us. I believe Molly told you about that, right?" Harry asked, just as they came to the giant double doors that led into the school.

"Indeed. I'm sure you're all anxious to speak with him, but I believe it would be best if you all went to bed for tonight and waited until tomorrow to speak with him," she replied, opening the doors and leading the group into the large, well-lit hallway. Ed stifled his amazement at the intricate but efficient design.

"But—"

"It's not a suggestion, Mr. Potter. Bed, now! I have arranged it so the three of you will have your old rooms. Ed, you will room with Harry and Ron. They'll show you where to go. The password is Quillian (3). Good night, you four."

"Good Night, Professor McGonagall," the trio said to her as she turned and started walking in the opposite direction towards her bedroom chamber.

"Come on, Ed. We'll show you where to go. Once we get to the dorms, we can get Dobby to bring us some food. I wonder how he's been doing?" Harry pondered, ignoring the scandalized look on Hermione's face at the thought of using a house elf as a slave.

"Who's Dobby?" Ed asked in curiosity as he followed the trio to the base of the stairs.

"It's best not to ask. You'll see for yourself soon enough. Oh, and careful with the stairs. They tend to move on their own," Ron warned.

"Good to know. Now would someone explain to me how the hell the pictures are moving!" Ed exclaimed as he pointed a finger at the nearest portrait.

"Watch where you put that finger, boy!" scolded the indicated painting, which just happened to be of an old Englishman who looked about ready to go on a fox hunt.

"What the hell? It can talk?" Ed questioned.

"I am not an "it," I am Sir Berant!" (4)

"Yah, there's some potion you can make to get them to do that. They actually have the same personality and knowledge as whoever it's a painting of. They can be extremely helpful. Come on, we still have to get to the dorm," Harry said, hoping that this explanation would make it easier for Ed to carry on a conversation with a painting the next morning. Somehow, he doubted it would.

Once the trio got to the dormitory, they were greeted by stares from the individuals who inhabited the comfortable room, as it was still relatively early.

"Harry, is that really you?" asked one of the boys at a nearby table, causing murmurs from about the room of "Harry Potter" and "The Chosen One."

"Yeah, it's me. How've you been Neville?"

"Ok. I'm just glad Grandma let me come back, after… well, you know…"

"Yeah, I know," said Harry, eyes darkening.

"Neville, this is Edward. We met him while we were traveling. He's been a lot of help," Hermione said, both to introduce their new friend and to break the awkward silence. She was careful not to say anything about what they were doing on their travels, but they'd have to talk to him later.

"Neville, could you contact Ginny and tell her we'll meet in the Room of Requirements in half an hour? Gather as many people from the DA as you can. There's some developments we want to catch you up on," Harry whispered to Neville as the group walked passed, Edward following behind them pretending not to notice that everyone in the room was staring at him intently.

"Ok, mind telling me what that was about?" Ed asked once they entered the empty dorm room. Other than the beds marked to be Harry, Ed, and Ron's were Neville's and some boy named Kevin's.

"Don't worry, you can trust Neville. He was part of the DA, and now he's the second head of the group since we all left. Ginny Weasley, Ron's sister, is now teaching the classes, since she was the most efficient at learning and teaching the spells. Neville and Ginny have been sending us any major developments or events that occurred at Hogwarts, as well as any gossip that may prove to be useful. Other than that, we haven't talked to either of them since we left, or anyone else for that matter," Harry explained, "Remember? I told you about the DA a while ago. It's the group that we started up in our fifth year. As long as we're here, I figured it would be good to catch up both ends on the current situation. The more the DA knows about the current situation, the better. Also, I'd like to collect as much intelligence about what's been circulating around the remaining student population as possible. After all, rumors have to start from somewhere, right?"

"Couldn't agree with you more. Now you were saying something about food?" Ed asked. None of them had eaten anything since they left the last station an hour before noon, and it was now nine o'clock at night, and what they _had _eaten consisted of limp looking ham sandwiches and some fries. Not the most filling of meals.

"Don't worry, I didn't forget," Harry said, smiling at his friend's impatience. "DOBBY!" he called randomly, or at least that's what Ed thought. In a second, there was a loud crack, and Ed was staring right at a giant pile of talking hats and socks that seemed to be wearing an oversized flannel shirt. Ed chose not to ask. He figured he didn't want to know.

"Harry Potter Sir! Sir, Dobby has been most worried about you, Sir!" exclaimed the exuberant pile of mismatched clothes.

"I was worried about you too, Dobby. I was starting to wonder if you had stayed here after we left," Harry addressed the pile named Dobby.

"Of course Dobby stayed, Sir! Dobby wanted to continue working at Hogwarts, Sir! And Dobby needed to make sure Kreacher did not cause Sir any trouble, Sir." Dobby said, voice turning serious.

"I forgot all about him. What has he been doing?" Harry asked, wondering how he could have forgotten the miniature one-time bane of his existence.

"Kreacher has been doing nothing, Sir. He just sits in the elf quarters all day with a pile of things, Sir. Dobby does not know how Kreacher could be so rude, Sir."

"Nor do I, to be honest. Dobby, I'd like you to meet a new friend of ours, Ed," Harry said, nodding over at the aforementioned alchemist. Ed took a hand out of his pocket and waved once at the elf before sticking it in his pocket again.

"Dobby is most delighted to meet you, Friend-of-Harry-Potter Sir!" Dobby said, enough hats falling off in his exaggerated bow that upon lifting his head again, Ed could see that the thing standing in front of him was actually a small creature with abnormally large ears and disproportionately large head. Other than blinking several times, Ed let on no sign that this was rather odd.

"Nice to meet you too, Dobby. And please, just call me Ed. No 'Sir'."

"Sir is too kind! Dobby could never call Sir such a thing! To think of addressing a _wizard_ as an _equal_!" Dobby exclaimed, clearly overwhelmed at meeting yet another person who treated him civilly. After an impossibly exaggerated episode of fervent tears on Dobby's part, Harry requested that the house-elf bring some food for them. Dobby quickly agreed and popped out of the room.

"What the hell was that?" Ed asked before either Ron or Harry could warn him not to.

"Dobby is not a '_that_' as you so put it, he is a house-elf! A long neglected and oppressed magical creature who deserves some respect! For years cruel wizards have been enslave—" Harry cut off Hermione before she could say any more.

"He's' a friend of mine. Bit eccentric, and has a fetish for random bits of clothes. Don't ask."

"Ah. And he refers to himself in third person because…" Ed trailed.

"I honestly don't know, but it seems all house-elves do that. If you talk to one for too long, you usually find yourself doing it, and once you start it's bloody hard to stop," Harry said, recalling the multiple times he had gone through an entire day referring to himself in third person. He briefly wondered why it was so hard to stop, only to realize he was thinking in third person. _'Harry really needs to stop doing this. Harry never likes it, and yet Harry can't help it. Why!! Why must Harry think in third person?'_ Harry silently berated himself (5).

"I'll remember that for future reference," Ed commented, as the elf suddenly popped back into the room, along with about nine other house-elves, all of whom were eagerly pushing food on the four teens, as well as handing them several plates to pile the food onto. Hermione took a plate, thanked all the house-elves for their help, and complimented them on their food. This received various reactions that ranged from thanking her for the compliment to moving away to give more food to Ed, who was eating food faster than he was piling it on his plate. Hermione sighed and sat down on the bed marked as Harry's to eat her food and wait for a half hour to pass, at which time they would leave to confront the remaining members of the DA.

(1): again, I find it imperative to say that the ONLY pairing in this is going to be Ed/Win and possibly a little Hermione/Ron, but that's it. Also, the main focus of this is not going to be on relationships, so get past that. Unless of course you actually like yaoi and insist on thinking of this as Ed/Harry, in which case, go on and think that. (6)

(2): Yes, I'm using that line again, and no, I still don't know who came up with it first. Why am I writing this? To tell you not to give me credit for it cuz it's not mine. Again, if you know who came up with it, please inform me.

(3): Not that anyone cares, but Quillian is my emo alter-ego whom we (being my friends and my other alter-egos and my friend's alter-egos and all of our alter-ego's alter egos (confusing, no?)) recently set up with Fortinbras (Happy-Moogle-Mustang's emo alter-ego). They are extremely happy together, and go on dates to the nightclub in the brain of NinjaSquirls. If any of your alter-egos are interested, it's not alcoholic, but Kate's bar still serves plenty of drinks. If you get too drunk, there's a Kate's Hotel next door, and a Thai food and Mexican food restaurant next door. More alter-ego business will be advertised in future chapters (7). If this confused/disturbed you (or both), don't feel bad. It's a sign you still have a small sliver of sanity left, which may or may not be a good thing, depending on your point of view.

(4): another of my alter-egos. I have 15 I think. Check the list on my profile. And again, not that anyone cares, but it is really killing me to be this unoriginal. GAH!

(5): Hanjuuluver is taking this thought line from herself, as Hanjuuluver frequently finds herself talking to herself and her other selves in third person. She wonders if this is just as abnormal as it seems… Hanjuuluver would like to announce that for the remainder of this chapter and for the remainder of the day she will be thinking in third person, and that she blames Dobby. Stupid Dobby…

A/N: Hanjuuluver thinks this chapter turned out exceptionally longer than she thought it would. She had been thinking it would be hard to get in her personal requirement of five normal font, normal formatted pages on Word, but she actually managed to make it substantially longer! She apologizes if this was too long for people, but Hanjuuluver didn't think it would separate very nicely, and so she cut it off as soon as she could. She doesn't know when she will be able to get around to the next chapter, but she hopes it will be soon. She also asks for all the yaoi/yuri lovers to read the contest fic series known as "Hanjuuluver's Biscuits of Humor." The newest installment is a bit of yuri fluff called Sophia's in the Atmosphere. She hopes you will enjoy it. She also advises you not to light too many matches just to watch them burn, because it makes you light-headed, and also she would like to state that the trunk of her friend's car would be far more comfortable with a pillow, but is not bad when you have two more people than you can fit in a car. It's truly amazing to be able to fit two people in one small trunk. Not to mention fun. And possibly illegal, but hey… Hanjuuluver will now commence in begging you all for reviews by giving you all puppy-eyes and poking the review button in hopes you click on it and say something. She suggests writing "something" as it would amuse her.


	25. The Secret Meeting

Before I get started, I'd just like to point out that the majority of this chapter, if not all of it, was entirely unplanned and just randomly popped into my head and wouldn't leave me alone. I never actually intended to involve the DA in this, but alas, I am not the one in charge of my brain, my muses are, along with all the other freeloaders that occupy the vast cavity known as my brain. Also, I'd like to tell you all to enjoy this chapter, as it just might be the last. All the various signs of the Apocalypse have been adding up more and more, and today I found out I have a 100 in my trigonometry class. This is the last sign. Especially considering I barely passed it with a D last semester. The world as we know it is over. Enjoy your last few days of life. And now that I've let Quillian have his Emo Death Rant, I'll let Kate back in so she can actually write this for me, cuz I have no idea what is supposed to happen. Supposedly she does.

Kate: indeed. I have a wonderful idea for this, and as long as this pesky human I've been spawned from doesn't make me forget it—

Me: hey! You're my muse! Aren't you supposed to be nice to me?

Kate: who the hell gave you that idea? You should know better by now anyway.

Me: -sulks-

Kate: anyway, as long as she or any of her other selves don't distract me from it with thoughts of homework, it should turn out relatively well. I've been plotting, and I've come up with several ideas. Now let's just see if they all work out…

Rachel: Now, without further delay, we present to you:

Chapter 25: The Secret Meeting

Harry found himself mildly surprised that almost all the DA he had left behind in the fifth year were there, and not only that, but there were even new faces. The list Hermione had created that bound them to loyalty still hung on the wall, no names crossed off, but several added on. He didn't take a long time to examine it as he had other matters at hand. He had asked Ed to stand guard outside of the door to make certain they would not be caught. Although most of the students that remained at the school would not be a problem, he was certain that Voldemort still had spies positioned at the school to relay any suspicious activity, just as Harry himself did, and he didn't want to take any chances. There still were no Slytherins in the DA, as it had become almost an unspoken rule that none from that house were to be trusted. He waited for about ten more minutes for any other DA members to trickle in unnoticed before sticking his head out the door and telling Ed to come in. Several of the DA members now inside the room looked quizzical at this, as they hadn't seen anyone out there when they had come in, but those who were standing in a position that allowed them a clear view of the hall saw a shadow from one of the suits of armor move and walk out into the light, taking the form of a young man about five four with long blond hair pulled back into a braid and a long, trailing red trench coat. The young man, whom they assumed to be Ed, quickly crossed the hall, letting his eyes sweep to both sides of the room as he went, and upon entering the room, he swiftly closed the door behind him.

"No one's coming. I didn't hear anything on the floors above us or below us. We should be fine," Ed reported to Harry.

"Good, that means we can start. Hermione, could you cast wards around the room to make sure it stays that way?" Harry asked, turning to the bushy-haired girl to his left. She nodded and instantly set to work, waving her wand in complicated patterns and muttering convoluted phrases.

"Alright, let's get started. I'm assuming you all had a vague idea as to what you are doing here once you saw me. We came here to gain extra information about the horcruxs, because we recently ran into a dead-end. I figured that as long as we were here, it wouldn't hurt anyone to exchange some information. Don't expect me to tell you everything that has been going on while I've been gone, or what we are doing in full detail, because none of us intends to divulge all of that information just yet. We'll let you ask us questions first, but once you're done we have some questions of our own to ask. Correspondence has been rare, and we still think Hogwarts is our strongest ally right now, other than the Order, and so any additional information you have may prove to be crucial, even if it's just a rumor. So, who wants to start?" Harry asked, leaving it open to the group to ask a question.

"Who is that, and how do we know we can trust him?" asked one of the new faces of the group.

"I think it would be best to let him answer that for himself," Harry said, turning to Ed.

"First of all, I'd like to point out it's not smart to insult someone who is standing right in front of you, especially when you don't know what they're capable of," Ed said, glaring at the boy who had asked the question. "Second, my name is Ed and this 'Voldemort' you are fighting is actually Envy, a homunculi that comes from my side of the Gate, and isn't something (1a) you 'wizards' would probably be capable of handling, so I agreed to help Harry and the others fight him, as it was my job long before it was theirs."

"What do you mean by 'your side of the Gate?'" asked a blond-haired girl in the corner.

"It's not something you will probably understand, but my universe is connected to yours by the Gate. The Gate controls the flow of powers, and after an… occurrence… on my side of the Gate, I ended up here on your side," Ed said. _'God damned snoopy kids,'_ he thought. _'This is gonna be one hell of a long night…I wish I had a nice strong drink right now…'_ and suddenly a shot glass filled with scotch appeared in front of him. He tried not to look suspicious or surprised as he glanced over to Harry, who shrugged his shoulders to show it was alright. Ed took it in one go and continued, putting away a mental note to ask about that later, once he noticed the glass refilled itself.

"How old are you anyway?" asked another student, whom Ed didn't bother to look at.

"It's complicated. I could tell you I'm nineteen, or I could tell you I'm in my twenties. Which would you prefer?"

"The truth," The student responded.

"Alright, then I'm both. Next question."

"How could you be both?" Ed took another shot of the scotch. These kids were really dense.

"I believe I recall saying something about the other side of the Gate, correct? Then wouldn't it make sense for me to have been to both sides? And wouldn't it also make sense for both sides to have a different speed of time? Use your brain next time kid," he said.

"Who are you calling a kid! I'm taller than you are!" the trio winced, only briefly wondering if they should attempt restraining Ed. They sided with self-preservation and let Ed go at the kid.

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING SHORT! ARE YOU SAYING I'M NOTHING BUT THE SIZE OF A BEAN! THAT YOU WOULD NEED A MICROSCOPE TO SEE ME!" Ed ranted, running over to the unfortunate kid who had spoken and punching a sizeable hole in the wall next to him with his right fist. "WATCH WHAT YOU SAY OR NEXT TIME IT'LL BE YOUR HEAD!" Ed warned, extracting his fist from the wall while mumbling something about Mustang Complex and a shrimp mobile.

"And that is why you should watch what you say about people before you know them," Ron pointed out, not bothering to hide his laughter. Ed huffed and stalked back over to the trio.

"How did you do that?" asked another student, without particularly thinking about it as their brain was still in shock from what they had just seen.

"It's called automail, and where I come from it's rather common to see. It's a mechanical substitute for limbs like arms and legs that have been lost. I have two automail limbs, and no, I will not tell you why I have them. It's nothing you need to know. To be honest, I've probably already told you more than you need to know, and just in case you were wondering, if news of this gets out, I have my ways of finding the source of the information leak, and let's just say you won't be happy if that source just so happens to be you." That seemed to end all additional questions about Ed, but Harry decided to tell them a little more, because he had a feeling that their lack of questions wasn't due to their lack of curiosity.

"Ed has been a valuable ally for us. He's right when he says he's had more experience with dealing with the homunculi than we have, and so in addition to helping us, he has also agreed to teach us sparring and a form of magic he calls alchemy."

"It's not magic, it's science. How many times do I have to tell you that?" Ed groaned in exasperation. Harry ignored him and continued.

"We asked him on the train ride here if he would be willing to teach you a little bit of each. We don't expect any of you to get it, because we've had even longer to learn and are still barely scratching the surface. You'll need to be open minded about learning something other than magic, and realize that these methods can be just as useful. But that won't be until later. In the meantime, does anyone have any more questions for us?"

"Harry, I'd have assumed by now you'd have figured out yourself that you should tell everyone what you've been doing since you left. What are the most recent threats, and is there anything that may concern the safety of the school?" asked a red-haired girl Ed identified as Ginny, Ron's little sister.

"Right. By the way, great to see you too, Ginny," Harry said before continuing. "Right after we left we headed for the first possible location for a Horcrux. This was Gryffindor's old house. We didn't find a horcrux, but we did find a journal that gives a clue as to what it might be. After that, you have probably all found out some way or another about Ed's fight with Envy during Bill and Fleur Weasley's wedding. This means Voldemort, or Envy, whichever he may be, is not going to just sit back and watch. It is safe to assume that he still plans to finish what he set out to do, only now it seems more of something he's taken on to himself rather than putting it off on his minions. I don't think he'll try attacking Hogwarts again, as there isn't anything in it anymore for him, but I could be wrong, so don't let your guard down. After that fight we were informed of the location of Ravenclaw's Cup," Harry said, pausing for a moment in reflection before catching himself and continuing. "It has been destroyed. Theoretically there are only three more horcruxs that we have to break, and we can go after Voldemort."

"Only now we have to worry about if Envy will still remain once Voldemort is destroyed. If this is the case, we will have yet another contingency to deal with. Envy is not as easily killed, and is even closer to immortality that this 'Voldemort' of yours," Ed said, startling even Harry. The trio hadn't thought of that. They had assumed that because Envy was inhabiting Voldemort that would mean that killing one would result in the death of both.

"Now you know the severity of the situation outside the castle walls, however there is still much that we don't know. Are there any more questions?" Harry asked, still attempting to fulfill the task at hand, though Ed's words rang in his head.

"How long will you stay?" a girl asked. Harry and the others knew her as Luna Lovegood. She was impossible to mistake for anyone else, and as usual her face looked compleatly blank (1c), but they all knew for a fact that she was probably one of their most valuable members. Because of her disposition, she was often ignored and disregarded as insane. This was actually an advantage, because she could pick up more information than any of the other members of the DA.

"We plan on leaving in three days. That will give us enough time to gather new information and replenish our resources. It will also be a good chance to teach you some more magic, as well as alchemy and sparring before we leave. However, if anything comes up, we might be prompted to leave earlier," Harry responded.

"Have the Death Eaters been active around the muggles?" questioned another student.

"Not too much so. Every other week or so you might see a report of a mysterious muggle death, but other than that, not much," Hermione responded (1). It remained quiet for a few moments before anyone else spoke.

"What can we do to help?" Ginny asked, breaking the thick silence.

"We will need to know any new developments at the school. Who might be viewed as an enemy, rumors about the movements of the Death Eaters, random information you have collected while we were gone, anything," Harry responded.

-------------this is a page break because Kate went out for coffee--------------

At the end of the meeting, the group had collected a notable amount of information. First, they had discovered that there were only about fifteen Slytherins left in the school, as most of them had fled after the attack on the school the previous year. Also, Slughorn was no longer teaching, and in his place was Remus Lupin. Tonks was teaching the DADA class, and all the other professors remained, although Trelawney seemed even more distant than usual, and most of her classes had gone to Firenze. Harry and the others thought this would have caused much argument from the "mysterious" professor, but it seemed as if she had not even noticed. In addition, Mrs. Pince, the Librarian, suddenly lacked much of her previous, book-obsessed vigor, and practically ignored students who talked loudly in the library or took the occasional note in a book. Other than that, not much had been happening. Harry had thanked everyone for their information, and slowly people had started trickling out of the classroom, each one shaking hands with the trio as they left, and walking past Ed, sometimes giving an acknowledging nod.

(1): mainly because I forgot about her and decided to make her say something. All bow before the mighty powers of the authoress of this fic!!

(1a) note from the editor: "heh. You called yourself a thing." And for anyone who doesn't understand this, NinjaSquirls and I, along with several friends, cosplay, and I am Envy. My editor is Ed. And yes, we're both girls, and yes, gender does get rather confusing. Especially for me.

(1b): note from editor, and this goes for many things, so it has no citation. "DAMN YOU EVIL, INCORRECTLY APOSTROPHIZING HOMUNCULUS! I AM GOING TO TIE YOU DOWN AND FORCE YOU TO READ THE PANDA BOOK!!!!"

(1c): ) yet another editor note, in regards to the previously written sentence of "her face looked glossy and blank.": "I hate that description. How does one's face look glossy? Does she have overactive sweat glands or something? Change it." And so I did.

A/N: dear god that was a lot of dialogue! Not to mention a crappy ending.

Kate (drinking her coffee): what did you expect? It was an informational meeting. Usually people talk during those. And you try to think of a better ending!

Me: true, but still!!

Kate: you wanna push the point? –waves machete threateningly—

Me: no, not really!

Carlos: tu estas muy inteligente.

Me: thanks… I think…

Kate: because this was my creation, I get to be the one to threaten you for reviews! You have been warned, I have many methods to get reviews, and I will…

Me: Kate, stop threatening the readers with death. I like my readers. I like my reviewers even more, but threatening them is a bad idea. They might go away. And that would be bad.

Kate: you have a point… but then when will I get to use my Furby-Ninja-Mountie-Assassin army? They've been getting restless.

Me: don't you use them to torment me and my friends? And to help run your bar?

Kate: true…

Amanda: while they're off having a conversation, I'd like to ask you to reviews. Reviews are used to motivate both of them to be productive rather than work on homework or watch anime. It takes lots of motivation to do that, and so the more reviews they receive the more likely they are to update. The multiple personalities of Hanjuuluver thank you for your wonderful contribution. Have a nice day:D


	26. Tsukikage wo doko made mo?

A/N: my poor editor is getting hell. (B1) This is the third chapter I've started since she started editing chapter 24. Which at this point she still hasn't finished. (B2) Perhaps by the time I finish this she will have. Even if she does, I'm leaving this up here just to emphasize the point that I got more done than she did. So ha! Ummm…The beginning of this just randomly came to me and so I had to write it cuz it sounded so good, and so I did. Tis Ed being angsty. After that part, it will hopefully get to where I was intending to be for chapter 25. You can see how well _that_ worked out, can't you? Lol. Anywho, read, enjoy, and leave me a review to use as transmutation material for another chapter. The next one will probably be a little angstier, and depending on how much Kate actually has planned for this chapter, I might end up putting off the "conversation with the informant" until the next chapter. We'll see!

Previous chapter:

**Chapter 26: **_**Tsukikage wo doko made mo?**_ ("How far does the moonlight reach?" Lyrics from Juuni Kokki, or Twelve Kingdoms) (B3)

**Ed's POV - First person, Obviously **

The meeting had ended about half an hour ago. I left with the others to go to the "dorms," but I had other plans for the remainder of the night. I really needed some alone time. Don't get me wrong, Harry and the others are honestly not that bad, I just needed my space. Once we got to the dorms, I waited for them to go to sleep (which didn't take long. After all, it had been a long day); once I heard their breathing even out, I slipped back out of the room with one of my bottles of whisky and transmuted a ledge outside of the window at the end of the hall. After climbing out, I transmuted a flight of stairs up to the roof so I could sit there and be alone (B4). It had a wonderful view of the moon, and I couldn't help but wonder if Al was looking at the moon too, only on the other side of the gate.

How much time had passed since I disappeared? Would Winry know by now? Surely Roy would know; he knows almost everything that I do. He never did tell me how he finds out… I let out a sigh.

"Why is it that wherever I am I manage to find ties that lead back home? This has got to be God's twisted idea of punishment. I never really did think an arm could be the equivalent of a soul, so naturally he takes things away from me bit by bit. Then again, there really wasn't much else I could do at the time, was there?" I ask myself, taking a swig from the amber bottle and lying backwards, feeling the long, hard wand I had tucked into my pocket as the fabric folds under my back.

"Or maybe there was. Maybe it all could have been avoided if I had just known about this earlier. But why? Why can these 'wizards' perform such miracles and never even pay anything for them when we have to give up so much to even begin to accomplish such advances? Why is it that we have to pay the price? Damn it! I feel so useless! I'm just stuck in the same damn situation as before! Stranded on this side of the gate and without even the smallest idea of how to get back! I have my alchemy again, and now I have the additional power of magic, but that means nothing if I can't use them for what I need!" I shout to the sky above me. It mocks me, laughing at my utter worthlessness. Growling, I slam a fist into the red tiles under me.

A quote from a book I read somewhere floats back to me suddenly. "Greatness is not in where we stand, but in what direction we are moving. We must sail sometimes with the wind and sometimes against it -- but sail we must and not drift, nor lie at anchor (1)." I have to admit, as much as I hate it, it is one hundred percent right. It doesn't matter what setbacks I have in front of me as long as I keep working towards my goal. No matter how hard the going is, I have to continue.

I have to do it for Al. After all, whatever man does on this planet has to be done in the living truth of the terror of creation, of the grotesque, of the rumble of panic underneath everything. Otherwise it is false. Whatever is achieved must be achieved with the full exercise of passion, of vision, of pain, of fear, and of sorrow. How do we know ... that our part of the meaning of the universe might not be a rhythm in sorrow (2)? It seems that my life at least has been one such rhythm. Ever since… ugh. Why can't I ever just forget about that? Even now it haunts me… all I know is the night is going to be far too long tonight, regardless of how few hours it lasts.

I slowly sit back up and take another gulp of my drink; savoring the burning sensation as it drains down my throat. I cast the full, bright moon one last glance before heading back down the stairs I had made, letting the wind jostle my bangs around in front of me as I go. The breeze is refreshing, and even calming. A beautiful night, with less than beautiful signs for the forthcoming day. It was going to be rainy again. At least it wasn't snow. I sigh and go back inside the dorm, but even when I do finally get to bed, I can't seem to actually sleep.

'_So much has happened in such a short amount of time. I never would have dreamed I would find myself on this side of the gate again. Let alone find out my father had been here even earlier than I thought. But then how did he get back the first time? Is it possible he knew of some other way? If so, why did he sacrifice himself to send me here? Did he simply want the easy way out – did he just want to just die? Even so, that still doesn't explain why he never told me. He obviously knew about this magic, and about this school as well. But what part did __**he**__ of all people have in it? Father, what did you do?'_ That was my last thought before I drifted off into a memory-filled sleep.

----------I lost the game (3)------------

Ed awoke early again the next morning. 5:30 to be more precise (4). He glanced around at his sleeping companions, briefly wondering how he could wake up before they did when he hadn't even gone to sleep until about 1:00 in the morning. He shrugged his shoulders and headed off in the direction of the showers Harry had pointed out to him the previous night, making sure to grab a hair brush and towel before he went in.

After taking a long, hot shower, Ed re-emerged and got dressed for the day, and lazily tied his hair in a ponytail so it could be dealt with later. Ed purposefully ignored the fact that his hair was soaking through his shirt, and that the few people who were now awake and sitting around the lounge area were throwing odd looks to his metal arm; though he did take note that some of those people had been at the DA meeting the previous night. He inwardly smirked at the reaction that those particular students had, and continued on his way to the dorms. (B5)

"Hey, Ed. You're up early again," commented Harry, who met him on the stairs. Ed shrugged his shoulders.

"Old habits die hard, I guess. Why are you up?"

"I wanted to get a little research in on my own in the library before Hermione starts berating me to. I actually do have some sense of responsibility, despite what she may think," Harry said with a smile.

"She does have a point though," Ed said, smirking at Harry's expression of mock innocence. "Us book worms have to stay together. I was just going to take another look at that journal, but I'd like to see this library of yours as well. Give me a second and I can go grab the book out of my pack."

"No problem. Just meet me in the common room. And just to let you know, Ron and the others are still asleep. I left Ron a note telling him were I'd be and to meet me in the Great Hall for breakfast."

"Good to know. Alright, I'll see you in a minute!" Ed said before continuing up to the room to grab the journal and his trademark red coat. Regardless of how amusing the reactions were, he still preferred concealing his arm from others. Besides, if they saw it too often, they would get curious, and curiosity doesn't always kill the cat; it had an uncanny habit of killing the source of the cat's interest as well.

----------where the hell did that cat analogy come from?--------------

An hour had passed, and Ed had managed to finish reading the journal two times through. He could have read through it several more times if he wasn't taking notes on the notes and trying to analyze all possible meanings for every sentence. Ed had long since learned that most alchemists would encode everything they wrote in some way, and his father had never been an exception to this. Ed took a moment to curse his father's efficiency before turning to Harry, who was still working on the same hard-back book he had been at when they got to the library. It was entitled "Dark Spells and How to Detect and Reflect Them." The book had no author, and Ed couldn't blame the person for it. Chances were if some dark wizard knew you wrote a book like that they'd kill you first and then burn all of your books and notes so word never got out.

"Alright, I think if I try reading much more of this my brain will explode. What have you found out from the Journal?" Harry asked, marking his page with a strip of parchment and setting it aside.

"Nothing more that relates to the horcruxs, but it does look as if he was working a little on alter-dimension travel. His theories seem sound, as does his logic, but he didn't take it very far, and it's closer to the end of the journal anyway. He also mentions his studies regarding the Philosopher's Stone. These are a lot harder to figure out, but by the looks of it he didn't use any magic for it, except to cover up his tracks afterwards. As I have already told you, the stone requires the sacrifice of hundreds of lives, and there is no way he could have covered it all up. It looks like there were many small skirmishes going on around and in Britain at the time, and I don't doubt that he took advantage of that. Details are a little shaky, and what he has is not lacking flaws. I wouldn't rely on his method of creation, so it looks like as far as the Gate is concerned, I'll have to find another way around. It's proving to be not as valuable as I thought it would."

"With any luck our informant will be able to let us in on more about the horcruxs at least, if not more about theories of traveling through dimensions. But I should probably warn you, the meeting will be… well, it won't be what you're expecting."

"Why does that not surprise me?" Ed sighted and leaned back in the chair. "Ever since I met you people I haven't even had the semblance of normalcy. What time is it? We should probably be heading over to meet Ron and Hermione."

"You're right. It looks like it's about 8:00. Breakfast will be over in about an hour. We should get going."

The two meet their friends in the Great Hall, and Ed was in awe of the ceiling and the floating candles, but he pushed that aside for the moment in favor of food. Even Ron was impressed with the speed at which the young alchemist ate.

"Honestly, Ed! You never ate like that before! Why must you start now?" Hermione exclaimed in exasperation. One food-obsessed male in the group was already more than enough for her, but to have another?

"When you get the change to eat, eat! You never know when your next opportunity will be, and so take advantage of it while you can!" Ed explained between bites. "Once, Al and I had to walk across an entire desert to get to Lior, and we were out there for days! We didn't even have anything we could transmute into food, and we couldn't find any water. It's in situations like _that_ that you learn to eat and drink as much as you can when the opportunity arises. You'd do well to remember that, Hermione. Now come on and have some of this pocky! It's amazing (5)!!!" (B6)

Hermione sighed and gave up trying to convince the blond to eat slower, settling for helping herself to a bowl of whole-wheat cereal instead.

Once the group had finished eating, Harry suggested they all meet with their informant, so that they could have the rest of the day to think over the information and could go back the following day with any questions they came up with. The matter was quickly agreed upon, and they set off down the long series of halls and moving staircases to get to the entrance to the headmaster's office.

"Duffle-bag!" Harry said to the statue of the gargoyle that stood in front of them. Ed gave him a look that clearly said , "You are insane…" before jumping a few inches when the giant statue moved out of the way. Ed thought _that_ had surprised him, but it had nothing on what happened next…

(1): Oliver Wendell Holmes quote.

(2):Ernest Becker quote. You know, if you want some more philosophical quotes, I have about 5 pages of them that I have saved for this fic that I will probably never get to use. It seems like a waste not to, but I don't know if I can. Feel free to take a few off of my hands for me. Just ask and I can send em to you.

(3): Rules of the game: Once you know the rules of the game, you must play it, and will do so for the rest of your life. The aim is to forget you are playing "The Game". If you remember, you lose, and must subsequently say out loud "I lost the game." This will lead all around you to lose "The Game" also, as they will have just remembered it themselves, so they too must say "I lost the game". Yes. Now that you know how to play and are currently thinking about "The Game" you have just lost. Go on, say it. If the people around you are not acquainted with "The Game" they will probably ask you "what game?" This is where you tell them the rules. So how do you win? Well, obviously, if you forget about "The Game" you win, but upon realizing you are the winner, you will have lost. Never fear though - you restart "The Game" after each loss hence you will be playing until you die. There is an allowance of 10 minutes after each loss before you can lose again, as it takes some time to explain it to others, and you will probably be thinking of it for some time afterwards. If you get really old and seriously don't remember "The Game" before you die, well, I suppose you win...not that you'd know. Still a young concept, by losing "The Game" out loud and thus explaining it to others who will in turn join in "The Game" we hope to spread it around the world so that in time, everyone on Earth will be playing, in which case someone saying "I lost the game" will set off a chain reaction of losses throughout the universe. Unity - go unity!

(4): This is the ungodly hour I have to wake up during school. It's just not right to be awake before the sun is even up!

(5): I had to do it. I love pocky!!

Beta Notes (notes directly from my editor, the wonderful NinjaSquirls):

B1) Damn straight I am! Tell your fangirls to stop threatening me! I'm doing the best I can!

B2) Ha! No longer true!

B3) TK fangirl (she says that like it's a bad thing!)

B4) Yet another reason that I am Ed. He's so lazy! How hard would it actually be to climb up to the roof?

B5) That seems a bit uncharacteristic of Ed – doesn't he usually go to great lengths to keep people from seeing his automail? (yes, I know, but the scene wouldn't leave my head, so it ended up here instead. I apologize for the OOCness.)

B6) What kind of magical school wouldn't have pocky?

A/N: ok, so I didn't get this as far as I was intending to, and the chapter has been pushed back yet again. Alas, my brain is still mush from school. In case anyone was wondering, I am off right now for spring break, and get back next Monday. I don't know if I'll have the next chapter written by then, but I can assure you my editor won't be done editing this one by that point, but the A/N is staying because A) I'm lazy, and B)… I'm lazy. I am hopping that with this chapter posted, I'll be able to break the 200 review mark! Help make my dreams come true!!!

Also, for anyone who has read my profile, I would like to inform you that Bob, my friend who was fighting a losing battle with brain cancer, passed away about a month ago. I would like to thank you all for your thoughts and prayers, and I would like to ask you to continually keep his family in your minds. They've been sticking though it for the past year, and it's been a long, hard haul for them, and the knowledge that his passing was a relief to him only eases the grief so much, and so they could use the extra support. In addition, a woman named Nell Clark, who goes to my church and has been like a grandparent to me for as long as I can remember, is also not doing well. She had an aneurism last Friday, and the doctors didn't think she would live to see last Saturday. As far as I know she's still pulling through, but I don't think she'll be around much longer, and I would like to ask for prayers for her painless passing, and, depending what religion you believe in, her reincarnation/life in heaven/ultimate unity with earth, or whatever else you may believe in. positive thoughts are appreciated. Thank you again for your support.

On a lighter note, I have started a nother ongoing fic. it's in the crossover section, because I guess that's what it is. I'm taking requests for any pairing you want, plus two words of your choice. Then I select a song to put as the theme, and presto! a chapter! there's more details in the first chapter of it if you're interested in reading/requesting it. It is called "A series of fluffy fics" and is just that. the first ACTUAL chapte is yaoi (Harry/Draco) and the other one I have up is Harry/Hermione. You can (and are encouraged to do so) pick something OTHER than Harry Potter. like FMA! (hint hint) I have a list of things that I would be willing to write fan fiction for in the first chapter. because it's in crossovers, it doesn't get much attention, and I would like to see if I can manage to change that. Arigato!


	27. Because of You

A/N: You would all laugh if I told you that I got my angst back after reading fluff, but it's true. Inspiration comes in odd ways. (1) Personally, I'm just glad Kate's back. She'd been missing for weeks and I had no idea where she was! Luckily, I have a backup muse, but she is entirely incapable of writing angst, and not that great at dialogue. In fact, she was the main cause of the previous chapter (minus the part at the beginning which was written right before Kate left), and part of the chapter before that. I realize that those last two chapters could have been better, but hey, when your brain is dead, you take what you can get. On top of that, school has been hell, and ACTs are coming up soon. That'll be fun. –sigh- but for now I'm out of school, and am going to take full advantage of it to get as many chapters of this fic typed as I can! Arigato to all my wonderful reviewers who reviewed the last chapter. Every author knows it's great to know who's out there. And I can't help but get the scary feeling that all my reviewers have either A) stopped reading B) died or C) were hunted down, tortured, and then killed by… someone/thing. What ever the reason, I haven't been getting as many recently as I had when I started. Is my fic really getting that much worse? I would hope it was getting better, but with my lack of brain I wouldn't be surprised to find out. If it is getting worse, feel free to either let me know in a kind and compassionate way, or send me a flame. (2) I would prefer the flame because it A) amuses me B) motivates me to do better C) might actually get me to work more D) might actually give me motivation to start ANOTHER fic as well (which I've been intending to do for _months_ but haven't quite gotten around to it yet) or E) All of the above. And for anyone who is bad at multiple choice (in which mode I seem to be stuck in) the answer is E, all of the above. Yes, I am one of those very rare authors who actually WANTS to get flames!! Please flame me!! (I just now realized how dirty that sounds…) (3)

Disclaimer: I own nothing more than the alter-egos named after FMA, and they insist that I don't own them either. But they can't deny that I own plushies, posters, and various plot bunnies involving them. Sadly, because there is no way I could make money off of any of that unless I sold them (which will never happen because I also own a not-so-healthy obsession with them) I probably don't own FMA.

Last chapter: Ed reflects on his trip here, and went to the library with Harry. They later met up with the Ron and Hermione, and then walked over to the Headmaster's office… ok, so nothing much happened. It was a filler chapter. I'M SORRY, OK!!

Chapter 27: Because of you

"You've got to be fucking kidding me!" Ed yelled. There was just no way Harry could be serious about this.

"I told you already that our correspondent wouldn't be quite what you were thinking!" Harry said. He didn't mean to yell, but for some reason he couldn't help it with the blond yelling at him like that.

"'Unexpected' is one thing, A DEAD GUY'S PORTRAIT IS ANOTHER!!! Do you have any fucking idea what you're doing? How the hell do you think _this_ is going to help you? Have you lost your mind?"

"No, I haven't! Dumbledore is the only other person who knows even _half_ as much about the situation as we do! _He_ was the one who gave me the hints about where we could find the horcruxs! Without him we wouldn't have even gotten _this_ far!"

"Oh, and a bloody fine accomplishment we've made! We found a goddamned cup and a useless diary of some _other_ dead guy!" Ed cut Harry off from rebutting by making another point. "On top of that, how the hell do you know we can trust it? It's just a painting for god's sake! Just because it can move and talk by some stretch of logic doesn't mean it has any knowledge of the guy! Sure, it might have the same personality and the same appearance, but that's just from the magic! _IT'S NOT THE SAME AS THE REAL PERSON!!_"

"Just because you can't explain something doesn't mean it isn't true!"

"Prove it!"

"What about magic? You can't explain that! And yet here it is! An entire society of people who rely on it entirely!" Harry rebuked.

"You're wrong! That _can_ be explained! It takes elements from surroundings, rather than only in one concentrated area, and draws them together in one spot. The energy required for the magic comes from the person themselves, as well as from the wand and its own energies. The reason you don't notice the equivalent exchange is because it draws its (4) materials from such a wide area and only takes them in little bits. For instance, if you were to 'conjure' a chair, it would take the wood particles in small bits from every available surface of the room. When you did that levitating trick, all it did was concentrate the gravity around the object you were trying to levitate by pushing it out of the direct area of the object. The force of gravity remains the same, but its power is distributed unevenly. _EVERYTHING CAN BE EXPLAINED!_ But how can you explain how this… this _painting_ can retain the knowledge of its occupant?" Ed's explanation of magic halted Harry's instance (5) and made him pause to consider. However this only lasted a moment, for, like Ed, Harry was far too stubborn to consider other possibilities for long unless it was absolutely necessary.

"So what if you're right? It won't hurt anything to try! For all you know, it might help us!"

"It also might hurt us! Have you ever considered that these paintings move? If another painting that is in Envy's control is told to spy on what goes on here, everything we know and have done could be exposed! Everything would be thrown away just because you wanted to talk to a painting!" Ed was fuming. He couldn't believe Harry's incompetence. And to think he had considered Harry as an ally! If the idiot kept on like this it would spell death for them all!

"If you don't mind, I would like to say something in my own defense," interjected a new voice. Ed looked around with a glare until his eyes settled on the portrait in question. That of one Albus Dumbledore, whose eyes almost seemed to twinkle, despite the fact that he was naught but a painting.

"What do _you_ want?" Ed hissed.

"My, my, not very trusting are you?" At an intensifying of Ed's glare Dumbledore laughed, "No, I suppose not! But I expect it would behoove you to listen to what I say. Minerva has already informed me of Harry's intention of questioning me, and has also enlightened me to your arrival as well. Although I don't know much about you, you remind me a great deal of one of the other portraits that, over my time spent in this office, both while I was alive as well as in my current state, I have had the pleasure of getting to know. I believe I will introduce you to him later. However, at the moment, I would like to see if I can help you four in any way. As for your concerns about any information leaving this spot, I can assure you it is impossible. There is only one portrait in this room that has the ability to go outside of the castle walls, and he is firmly on our side of this battle and has been aiding the Order and myself for many years. Do you still object?"

"I'm guessing that even if I said no it wouldn't stop any of you, would it?" Ed asked, looking around to the trio, who were standing behind him.

"Nope, not at all!" Ron said cheerily. Ed glared at him and sighed.

"Fine, you win. We'll stay here and you can ask the old coot your questions." At the mention of "old coot" Minerva glared at the young blond for being so rude to such a great man, but Dumbledore only smiled.

"Very well then. Shall we begin?" Harry nodded and immediately began to ask his questions.

"Do you have any idea where we could find the _real_ locket horcrux?" He asked, briefly allowing his eyes to betray his emotions as he reflected that if not for that fake locket the man he was talking to would be whole, not just a painting of what once was.

Dumbledore smiled understandingly. "Don't fret. I was far past my expiration date. And I must say our dear Minerva has a much firmer hand on things than _I_ ever did!" He chuckled a bit at this, joy apparent in his painted-blue eyes. "By the way, you haven't been offered any lemon drops! Go on, help yourselves!" he invited, gesturing to a bowl behind Ed's shoulder.

Everyone took one out of courtesy (except Ed, who was still unsure about trusting a talking, moving portrait) and Dumbledore brought himself to the point.

"As for the matter of the locket, I have been pondering the topic much after Minerva informed me. It's become a small project of mine as of late, and just the other day it came to me! Do any of you by chance remember, and please excuse me for this, Harry, when you three aided Sirius with cleaning up headquarters?" The trio nodded grimly as they were reminded of the man's death. "Well then I hope you also recall the locket none of you were able to move? It gave you all quite a bit of trouble as I recall. I suspect that this is the very horcrux we seek, and the initials RAB you found in the note stand for one Regulus A. Black, a former death eater and Sirius's brother. (6)It's only a hunch, but perhaps you could give this old man gloating rights by checking up on it?" Dumbledore inquired with a raise of his brow. Ed had to admit, this guy was great at getting people to do what he wanted. Even Ed was convinced it was a good idea, although he also made note of the amazing skills of manipulation this man had. In a way he was like Roy, telling people to do something without actually ordering them to. Of course that had never worked on Ed, but he knew the man was famous for it. He shivered slightly at the idea of getting Mustang into the same room as this… portrait. At the end of the thought he mentally smacked himself. (7)

While Ed had his mental rant, Harry fiddled with the fake locket horcrux he had kept in his pocket since the incident, not so much a talisman as a reminder of what his path had cost, and what still remained for him to do (1).

"Alright, we'll do it. I'm not exactly eager to go back there again, but I suppose it's necessary," Harry finally declared with a confirming nod of his head. Both Hermione and Ron looked at him with sympathy. Ed winced. He had been on the receiving end of many such looks. He had always hated it. What gave people the right to do that to you? Pity only makes moving on harder, and the _I understand_s became damn near unbearable because you knew, of course, that they didn't. That they _couldn't_… And you hoped they never would. Pity is an unnecessary emotion that never leads to anything but more pain.

"Tch. Get over it. Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do people as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure or nothing (2). From what you told me, he died in action, with one last adventure. He's probably far happier that he died accomplishing something than he would be if he had simply died of old age. Just be grateful that you got the chance to meet him and move on. Wallowing in your own grief will get you nowhere, and if you can't turn and face your past, then you'll always be tied back by it," Ed lectured. (8)

Hermione glared at him, and Ed gracefully ignored her and faced Dumbledore instead.

"I've got another question for you, old man. We went to Gryffindor's Hollow to find another horcrux. Instead we found some diary with a prediction of sorts in it. Mind translating it for us?" Ed asked.

Dumbledore looked inquiringly at the small, temperamental blond before shaking his head. "I believe I know someone else who could do that far more effectively than I."

"Who?" Hermione asked.

"Why, who better than the man himself? Minerva!" At Dumbledore's call, the strict woman walked briskly over.

"Yes, Albus?" she asked.

"Would you kindly escort them to Sir Gryffindor's portrait?"

"Yes sir. Right this way, please," she commanded crisply. Dumbledore smiled and nodded at the group of four, who bid him goodbye and followed the cat-animagus to the large room in the back with the oak doors that reminded Ed of those to Roy Mustang's office. With a push from McGonagall, the doors swung in without a squeak, revealing first a large window overlooking the school grounds and flooding the room with a brilliant natural light, and then a portrait of none other than the great Gryffindor himself.

"YOU!" Ed exclaimed in rage when he entered the small room.

"I take it you know this man?" Minerva inquired. When he got no response, Gryffindor answered for him.

"Yes. He's my son." Harry and the others were speechless. How could Gryffindor himself be Ed's father? Ed was only 21 at even his oldest age! Not to mention he was from the other side of the gate! The complications were endless.

"Don't you DARE call me that again, you bastard! How could you?" Ed fumed.

"So you still haven't forgiven me?"

"Don't give me that bullshit! You know damn well I'm not talking about that! I went all those years hating you for what you did. For creating the stone, and for leaving mother like that when you knew damn well she was dying. AND DON'T TELL ME YOU DIDN'T! She told you everything! She loved you and trusted you with all that she was, and even after you left she waited for you! And you never came back. I never thought I could forgive you for that, but I did. I forgave you because you explained why, and despite the fact that it was still one shitty explanation, I forgave you! That's not what's pissing me off right now! You have three guesses why, and I bet you'll get it the first time!"

"It's because I never told you about magic, isn't it Edward?"

"Wow, you really are a fucking genius, aren't you dad?" Ed spat sarcastically.

"Let me explain, Edward…" Hohenheim started.

"Oh yes, please do! Explain to me why you didn't ever use it when you know it could have saved her, and yourself. Explain _that,_ why don't you?"

"It's not that I didn't want to, I… I just couldn't. And don't just assume that I knew of her health condition. She never told me. I suppose she just didn't want anyone to worry about her. I was just so selfish about my own condition that I paid hers no heed… and I don't think I'll ever be able to forgive myself for that."

McGonagall had already left, not wishing to intrude upon the personal matters of the two. The trio would have left as well, had they not had an obligation to be there when the matter of the Journal finally came around. Not to mention a bit of their own guilty curiosity on the matter.

"And you think that makes it okay! She was your WIFE damn it! You should have known more than that! Don't tell me you never noticed how she always used to have to take a nap at noon even though she hadn't done much yet, or when she had to come in after being outside for more than three hours. How oblivious _were_ you, you bastard!" Ed glared, not caring about the audience.

"I have no excuse, and I don't expect you to forgive me…" Hohenheim said sadly.

"Don't worry, I won't. And I won't forgive you for giving me that crap that the only way back to our side of the gate was by sacrificing yourself! If you know so damn much about magic, and I know you do, then why didn't you use _that_? You had equations, theories, and all sorts of notes on it in this!" Ed exclaimed, throwing the journal on the floor between himself and his father. "You _knew_ there was another way! Why did you have to kill yourself for me and leave me responsible for ANOTHER death when you could have avoided it?"

"Because, Edward, magic uses equivalent exchange too. I am sure you have already figured this out for yourself, but the energy required to use magic comes from one's soul. My soul was in bad shape, and there was no way it had enough energy left in it to accomplish the job. Besides, a Gate is a Gate, and either way it requires lives to open it. I'd rather that only my life was taken than the lives of others who deserved it less than I."

Ed stared at his father for a few moments before nodding his head. "I can forgive that, then. That doesn't change the fact that you could have, and should have, done more. Even with your rotting soul you could have at the very least protected those around you who were killed in the war. You could have done at least _something_ to make it better. Personally, I don't buy your excuse of not wanting to take any more lives. Not only did it never seem to bother you too much before, but you sacrificed the lives of many people you could have helped."

"When did I ever do that?" Hohenheim asked, betraying some exasperation and anger with his petulant son.

"How about when you turned out all those gypsies and Jews that I had snuck in and hidden in the back room? No one would have found them, and you wouldn't have been in any danger anyway because I was friends with Hughes (3), but you just kicked them out of there like their lives were nothing," Ed said with both disappointment and anger in his voice as he shook his head and clenched his fist. "You just sent them back out there even though you knew what was waiting for them. You liar. You don't care about people's lives, and you can't pull that line on me. Despite the fact I think you're lower than shit, I will forgive you for at least saving those few people that would have otherwise been sacrificed for my trip though the Gate. For that alone I am thankful," he concluded leaning back against the now closed doors.

Silence ensued for a few moments before at last Hermione spoke up. The curiosity was simply eating at her, and despite the awkwardness of the situation, she knew that it had to get done eventually.

"Mr. Gryffindor, we have an important matter to discuss with you. Have you ever heard of a horcrux?"

Hohenheim cocked an eyebrow. "Yes, I have. What is it you wish to know?"

(1): this sentence was inspired from the book itself, where close to the end JKR says that Harry kept the locket in his pocket for the aforementioned reason. She also mentioned him fiddling with it when he was thinking, and I sticky-noted it ahead of time and told myself I had to use that at some point because it reminded me of Ed and gave me yet another connection between the two! XD

(2): quote by Helen Keller. Altered a bit. Where I have people she had "the children of men." Slight alteration. Less poetic than she had, but it works.

(3): movie spoilers! Hughes in the world across from the gate was a Nazi. NOOO!!! HUGHES!!!! DON'T BE A NAZI!!!! –cries-

A/N: ok, the father conversation angst comes from watching Otogi Zoshi episode 13, during which I cried. Not for part of it, not just for the end of it, the whole damn episode, and then I couldn't concentrate on my humanities project I was supposed to be doing, and I had to deposit little bits of depression somewhere, and so I decided to put it here because I had already gotten it started. Left over bits may be put forth in to the post-movie fic I have in mind, but I don't know yet. But for anyone who likes a good anime with action, adventure, drama, angst, plot twists, sci-fi, and romance all tied into one, I highly recommend Otogi Zoshi. Just make sure you have tissues. Lots and lots of tissues. As for notes about the fic, I'm assuming that portrait-Hohenheim has all the memories of now-dead Hohenheim as well as the knowledge of what was going on even before he died. This is taking much longer than I thought it would, so the conversation with Hohenheim/Gryffindor is going to be continued in the next chapter. I'm proud of myself. I've written three chapters in one week! Go me! Also, from now on at the end of chapters, I will be posting a few "you know you live in New Mexico" points. All of these are true, and if you have ever been to New Mexico, or if you're me and you actually live there, you will understand. If not, they're still funny!

You know you live in New Mexico when:

You've had a school day cancelled because there was half an inch of snow on the ground. (9)

There is a kachina somewhere in your home or yard.

You know what a kachina is. (10)

You don't make eye contact with other drivers because you can't tell how well armed they are just by looking.

As for reviews… I'm too lazy to write any more, so just look at the A/N at the beginning which is actually more informative about the fic than this is… sad but true. And I want some flames!! Nice reviews are also appreciated, but since I've started writing fan fiction I've only gotten one flame which reads as follows: I read the first chapter. Not only did you tactfully forget to spell check your story, you also forgot to have the characters in character, have any plot, or even make the story enjoyable. Elementary grammatical errors are made. The only thing you did right was spell Nausicaä's name right. Next time get a beta reader.

And despite the obvious irritation, I'm just not feeling the hate here! Now, with some people this would anger them. It made me laugh. In fact, I found myself wanting to get more! Partly because she was sadly correct (well, I'd like to think I kept the Nausicaä characters in character, but hey), and partly because… actually, I don't know… but it does amuse me! Honestly! And well, so much for being lazy… but please drop a review. It's good to know all your readers aren't dead. Death is inconvenient. Also, if anyone has questions or things of such nature, fell free to ask! I probably have an answer, and if I don't, I'll either come up with one, work in the answer in a future chapter, or simply admit that I don't know either. My dog is fluffy, my brain is dead, and I need another penguin. That is all.

REVIEW!!

Notes of NinjaSquirls, Brilliant but Lazy and Overworked Editor:

Yosh! I will convert you and JAG to angstiness yet! Just watch!

Ed personally thinks it's gotten much better

I will always have a special place in my heart for the person who flamed me to tell me I sucked and was gay for writing yaoi…

Curse you to a thousand Hindu hells…and I had such high hopes when you used the right its in the preceding sentence

Somehow I really think that is meant to be a different word…

Envy, you are fucking brilliant…and I don't say that very often. If JK doesn't actually do that in 7, I will be so disappointed.

DAMN YOU! WHY MUST YOU PUT HORRIBLE IMAGES INTO MY HEAD?!

Ed's one to talk. Little hypocrite.

I can't believe the year before I leave is the year we have the killer snowstorm of doom – so kind of the evil state

Additionally, you know that you never give a kokopelli to a young couple unless you want the girl to get pregnant


	28. Flash Back

I came up with this whole plot while in the shower. Granted, there wasn't much, but that's still a heck of a lot more than what I had! DAMN YOU HOHENHEIM!! Why must you be so damnably hard to write about?!?!!? And on that note I'll actually get started.

Disclaimer: don't own FMA or HP. Would say something witty, but all brain power being used to actually remember what I'm writing.

Last chapter: Ed finds out their "informant" is a picture. Ed starts to rant. Ed makes several good points _while_ ranting, and eventually gives in and talks to the picture (aka Dumbledore). Harry asks Dumbledore if he knows where the real locket horcrux is, and it is suggested that they look in the Black Manor. Next, Ed asks if Dumbledore would help them figure out the prophecy in Gryffindor's journal. Dumbledore points them instead to the portrait of Gryffindor himself, who turns out to be Hohenheim, the current bane of my existence. After Ed yells at the bane of my existence, I mean his father, for creating the Philosopher's Stone, despite knowing the cost, Hermione asks if he knows anything about horcruxs.

Chapter 28: flash back

"Yes, I have. What do you want to know?" Hohenheim asked his son, the heir of Gryffindor.

"For starters, how do you know about them?" Ed asked with venom. His father sighed. It seemed that his son wouldn't ever be able to forgive him when he was dead. He just had really bad luck with that. Well, for the most part. He continued to hope that Al at least still liked him.

"The stone. That is how I figured out how to create it. I figured that because the horcrux splits your own soul, and by killing someone you release the soul, it was possible, perhaps, to sacrifice a part of your own soul and use it to combine the lives of thousands of dead into one, all powerful item. My calculations said that because the soul is what powers magic, a heavy concentration of souls would not only increase magical powers by millions of times, but it would also help one bypass the laws of alchemy and magic, and bring someone back from the dead, or give eternal life to one who was living. Envy was the result of the first of these, and I am an example of the last. I used the research of horcruxs to discover how to bind a soul to an object, and then, instead of using my soul, I used the souls of others, and attached them all to the same object. The matter of conflicting souls being unable to reside in the same place was a large problem, and I used a solution of red water to make sure the souls didn't escape. The fact that the fumes killed hundreds of people in the vicinity only served to help my cause," Hohenheim said with regret. Ed glared at him.

"So you knew! You went and created the stone, you _invented_ the stone, by _killing people_? And for what? So you could be more powerful! Are you aware of the after-effects of your research with red water? It got across the gate along with you, and hundreds more people died of consumption! Babies, mothers, children! You could have at least destroyed information you had about it!"

"Yes, I know, but you don't know how hard that was! Dante already had homunculi steal it, and every time I would get close, she would move again. When I finally found her, she summoned the gate and did her best to keep me there! I told you already it was only by some strange, perverse miracle that I found myself on this side again."

"Dante? The woman who was in your journal? Who is she?" Hermione asked before she could think. Ed turned and glared at her, although he wasn't angry at her, but his father, whom he turned back to with the scowl still plastered on his face, gold eyes blazing with anger.

"She's the bitch who he hooked up with on this side of the Gate and helped keep alive for centuries so she could kill more people to create more stones. She's also the one who was behind my first trip here and the majority of the suffering and pain I had to live with while on my side so she couldn't get her greedy hands on my brother. And, if I'm not mistaken, _father_, you were the one who helped get her here, weren't you? With the work you did on summoning the Gate."

"You always were a genius, Ed." Ed glared again at this phrase, mainly because for a moment he saw not his father, but Nina's. Shou Tucker. He had said those same words, and ever since then Ed hated hearing them. Anyone who knew him well knew this. But his father never had known him very well. "Yes, I did, but at the time she wasn't so corrupted. She was still a good person, and I still cared for her," Ed's glare became harsher, "cared for, not loved. And, in a way, I guess I was in her debt. And you know just as well as anyone that being in someone's debt doesn't work well for alchemists. I had to pay her back, so I created a gate and sent her, along with our homunculus of a son, over to your side of the gate. At the time I had no idea were it led, only that it was a way out, and that we couldn't stay here anymore. It was becoming more and more of a challenge to stay unnoticed, even after body changes. So I started figuring out how to create a Permanent Gate," he said; regret still laced his voice, but none of the group missed the flash of pride that lit his face for the briefest of moments.

"And how many lives did you have to sacrifice to make that?" Ed asked accusingly.

"Thirty." The group of four flinched. "Ed, you know as well as I do that that number of lives was beyond miniscule when compared to the lives it took to create a stone. At the time that made me think of it as being good. Thirty lives were nothing, and soon my… no, Dante, soon Dante would be 'safe,' and she and our 'son' could start a new life somewhere else. I did my studies in my private study, deep underground where no one would ever think of looking. It took me perhaps two years to finish it, during which time I was rarely home. I suppose this separated me even more from both Dante and William, whom you know as Envy. Now that I look back at it, it might even explain why William always hated me…" Hohenheim trailed off pensively and the room remained silent for a few moments, during which Ed refused to look at anyone and the trio tried to sort out the new information.

"One more thing, _father_, and then we'll leave," Ed said, turning back around to face the portrait of Gryffindor.

"What is it?"

"Can you tell us what the prediction you wrote in your journal was referring to?"

"Prediction?"

"Yes," Ed said, picking up the book and flipping to the page where the passage could be found. He then began to read the passage aloud. "I was told a most interesting prophecy today by a very skilled seer. She told me that something I would acquire would become a container for great evil. I have no idea what she meant, but she also said it would later belong to 'the one for whom death holds no mystery and life can border between two lives. He will be the one to pacify the depths of an undertow and help destroy immortality by sacrificing himself.'" Ed closed the book, keeping his thumb on the page so he could find it later. "Does that help refresh your memory?"

"Yes, it does. I still cannot discern the meaning of the entirety of the second part, however the first I believe I can enlighten you on. During my first body exchange, right after I created our first stone, I collapsed and was on the brink of death. Dante quickly grabbed the first man she saw and transferred my soul into his using the stone. Of course, his soul was ejected to make room for mine. Due to her haste, she had been unable to examine the body beforehand, and as it turned out, he had a wooden leg. This was a huge detriment to both of us, and so I put all of our alchemic projects to the side for a time while I constructed a new leg for myself. It was very similar to automail. It even used a similar metal, the only differences being mine was lighter and more durable (as a byproduct of magic), and the nerve connecters were not as advanced, so it wasn't quite as efficient as the automail you are used to. The models I made for you during your stay in Germany were very similar to my original model, only yours did not have such a strong metal casing. Of course, when I switched bodies again I no longer had any use for it, and simply kept it in storage. It was only after I crossed the gate that I remembered it, and returned to get it back. I came back through the gate with only the minor sacrifice of a few unimportant memories of my early childhood, apperated to the grounds right outside of the defenses I put on my old home, grabbed that along with a few other items such as leftover red water, apperated back to the Permanent Gate, and returned to Rizumbul after sacrificing the vials of red water. I never used the Gate again after that. I believe that Voldemort managed to make the leg into a horcrux before I took it."

"That would explain the 'container for great evil,' but what about the rest?" Harry asked.

"Well, after I returned, I gave the leg to the Rockbells and told them it was an early model of automail I had purchased on my travels. Now, this is only a guess, but I am thinking that perhaps some of the metal I used to create it was used in one of their pieces of automail. Possibly all of it. That would also help explain it being passed on to someone else. But the only person I know of to whom 'death holds no mystery and life can border on two lives' is Ed, because he has theoretically 'died' before, and so it's not mysterious to him, and he has been on both sides of the Gate. However, there may be others who also fit in that category. I would not know about them if this were so, however, so my only guess would be that one of Ed's automail limbs is the mystery horcrux."

The group turned to Edward and seemed entirely unable to avert their eyes from their newest companion, who had not taken his eyes off his father. Two moments passed, though to the people in the room the tension seemed to draw out for hours before Ed sighted and ran a hand through his bangs.

"Leave it to those auto-mail freaks to disassemble antique automail to use its better components," he said with a sigh, mumbling several other choice descriptions as well that none of the others were quite able to pick out as most of it was either in German or Amestrian. "Alright, old man. Let's say I buy your story," Ed said, looking back up at his father and letting his hand fall back down to his side once more. "How would one go about figuring out which limb is the horcrux? I don't exactly want to end up hacking my leg up to pieces only to find out it's my arm, or worse yet the wrong set of automail. I'm sure if Winry were here she'd be perfectly able to tell you just how many pairs of her precious automail I've managed to break, and I have not doubt that if you left me to it for a bit longer I'd be able to destroy even more. There's no way to tell which set of automail was the horcrux."

"Actually, Edward, there is. I stumbled across a spell for it somewhere along in my earlier studies. The spell was _Animus Semita._ If you say this incantation while looking directly at the object you wish to check for a horcrux, it will (theoretically of course) light the object in a glowing red light if it possesses a trace of a foreign soul, and blue if it does not. I have never actually tried it myself, so I'm not sure if the method actually works. The only side effect to this spell is it requires a small blood sacrifice of the one who wishes to detect the soul. Nothing much; just the prick of a finger, and then the blood must be applied just above the wand tip. This will allow the person whose blood is being used to see the colors, but no one else. Needless to say it isn't something you want to try out too often. The magical residue from the wand is likely to rub off into the wound, and if you do this too often there's a chance the cut won't heal."

"We don't need your concern, old man," Ed said, putting his arms up behind his head and turning away from the portrait. "We'll be fine on our own. Later," he said nonchalantly as he walked out the door, taking the information seriously despite his outward appearance. The group hesitated a moment before thanking Gryffindor for his help and running out after him.

"Hey, Ed! Wait up!" Ron exclaimed as they chassed the blond down the spiraling staircase hidden behind the gargoyle.

"So how does tonight sound?" Ed asked, without slowing down in the least.

"What?" Hermione asked as they hit the tiled floor without slowing and continued to trail after the alchemist. "Don't you think it's a little soon? I mean, we should do a little more research on it before—"

"No time. Look, I promised I'd stick with you guys until we saw the end of this through, and just because my automail might be a horcrux does not give anyone an excuse to postpone the procedure. If we find out that it really is a horcrux, then that's one more thing we can check off our list, and the sooner the better. I agree that usually with this kind of thing it's better to err on the side of caution, but, as much as I hate to admit it, I trust the old man with this. He may be a damn bastard when it comes to family and morality in general, but when it comes to science and knowledge, there are few people who could ever hope to rival him. And right now every second counts. We can't afford to waste time looking in the library for some obscure, and doubtless illegal, spell that probably won't even be there. And since you already promised all those brats a lesson with alchemy and sparring, it would be a good idea to just hold a meeting all day for two or three days in a row. That way they get their lessons, and we can get out of here. that gives you guys the rest of today to get together anything else you wanted to get from here, and then we can head out."

"Fine, but we won't destroy the horcrux if it's one or both of your limbs," Harry said stubbornly.

"Yes you will. And if you don't, then I'll just have to do it myself. I don't make promises so that I can break them, and your cause had better not be so flimsy as to change just because I have to sacrifice a couple lumps of metal." Ed said, mentally wincing as a voice in the back of his head that sounded eerily like Winry began ranting about how automail was far more precious than 'a couple lumps of metal,' and he'd better appreciate it! Then the strange sensation of being whacked with a wrench played strongly in his mind and he had to resist the sudden urge to bring his hands up defensively.

The trio said nothing after that, and the group traversed the castle in silence, splitting up once they entered the Gryffindor commons area amongst the curious whispers of the students that were inhabiting it at the moment. Hermione said goodbye to the boys and headed to her dorm room to return to some books she had taken with her from the library, and the boys went up to their room.

As soon as the trio of boys entered, Neville stood up from the windowsill and walked over.

"I'm sorry to bother you, but Ginny wanted me to ask you when the next DA meeting was going to be… and…"

"Tell her to set it for tomorrow. Eight o'clock. We'll be going all day, so let everyone know to take the day off classes," Harry answered, saving Neville from having to come up with a way to ask without sounding rude. The boy had come far, but he still had a long way to go before he could even become mildly intimidating. "I still have to run it past the teachers, but I don't think any of them will care. The meetings will be three days in a row, because we plan to leave within a week."

"Thank you, Harry!" Neville exclaimed before hurrying out of the room and leaving the three alone again.

"So you agree with me?" Ed asked, not really expecting a response.

"No, but you do have good points, and I can't ignore that. We'll test for the horcrux tonight, but if it turns out your automail is the horcrux, it stays until we absolutely can't wait any longer, got it?"

"Fine. Whatever you say, Harry," Ed consented and flopped onto his bed and pulled a book of the small stack he had acquired during their short trip to the library earlier that day. Harry sighed and did the same, leaving Ron to his game of exploding snaps.

-----------------I lost the game--------------------

A/N: so, what didja think? That was probably one of the harder ones to get done. I really don't like having to write Hohenheim. I just don't get him at all. And if that didn't make it hard enough, add in writers block and so many major school projects that I've probably inhaled enough rubber cement to knock a moose unconscious. So much gluing…-twitch- anyway, I finally got this chapter done, and I don't think it turned out half bad! Review and tell me if I'm wrong. Oh! and the special thanks goes to Miroku-has-darkness, who was my official 200th reviewer, even though he reviewed chapter 6! Heh… I suppose that means the second place 200th reviewer is soupcan. Is it possible to have a second place 200th reviewer? Oh well. It is now! Point is you people rock! It's great to see that my reviewers are still out there and people are actually still interested. Now on to the random section for "you know you live in New Mexico when…" (and just in case you were wondering, all the ones mentioned here are entirely true).

You price-shop for tortillas.

You have an extra freezer just for green chili.

You think a red light is merely a suggestion.

You believe using a turn signal is a sign of weakness.

You think six tons of crushed rock makes a beautiful front lawn.

Tumbleweeds and various cacti in your yard are not weeds. They are your lawn.

You ran for state legislature so you can speed legally.

You pass on the right because that's the fast-lane.

You just got your fifth DWI and got elected to the state legislature in the same week.

Your swamp cooler got knocked off your roof by a dust devil (which, for all you non-New Mexican people is a condensed area of fast moving wind. These can be anywhere between 1 foot to 1 mile wide and can be just about any height).

You have been on TV more than three times telling about how your neighbor was shot or about your alien abduction.

Plague is considered a common ailment. Curable with salsa. Or so they say.

Ok, enough New Mexican culture! Review!


	29. Alchemy Class

Ok, so my brain has been off in its own little world (don't worry. It didn't get lost. It does that so much it knows every niche and cranny and couldn't get lost there if it wanted to) for quite some time, and it finally came back. I still don't know what condition it's in or when it is going to wander away again, so as of now all I can do is hope my muses still work, and that it doesn't turn out too badly. And then I just had to make this chapter an actiony chapter (in my opinion), which I suck at. Kuso! I'm such a baka!! –bangs head against wall- well, so much for those last few brain cells… -sigh-…Without (much) further delay, chapter 29 of Quest for Home!

Disclaimer: (yet another delay. –sigh-) as owning either anime OR manga versions of FMA would require the ability to draw, which I lack even the slightest semblance of, I will never own it. Nor will I own HP, because although I DO write, I would starve if I ever tried to make money off it. Life is good to maintain. And fyi, I just stubbed my toe on a sewing box. Ow.

Chapter 29: Alchemy Class

The day had finally come. Ed wasn't sure if he should be excited, nervous, or relaxed. If he were to be honest though, at the moment he wasn't any of those. Indifferent would probably be a better description. He sighed.

"Okay, so I see everyone showed up. Good. Harry decided to let me take up the majority of our time here with Alchemy, as you can learn magic on your own. In fact, Harry, Ron, and Hermione are going to be learning as well so long as we have the time to devote to it," He explained to the gathered DA, who were all in the Room of Requirement, expecting to be taught there. Ed mentally scoffed.

"I'm only going to say this once, so you'd all better listen up. Alchemy is NOT easy, and it's nothing like magic. You will have to work hard to get anywhere, and there will probably be some of you who never excel at even the simplest transmutations. Everyone has the _potential_ to transmute, but only some of you will ever be able to go far with it. This is why I will be teaching you sparring in addition to alchemy. This way, you can fight without a wand. Sparring, for those of you who think you're above so-called 'muggle fighting,' is just that. Don't underestimate it; it might just be what saves your life one of these days."

"Yeah right. A muggle could _never_ beat a _wizard_. They're weak and—" started one of the Ravenclaw boys, Ackley (Ed had to give the boy some credit. He'd be a jackass too if his name were Ackley).

"Take out your wand." Ed said calmly.

"What? Why?"

"Because you just volunteered to be an example of where ignorance and stupidity will get you. You can use any spell you want, regardless of type, strength, speed, or side effects. In addition to that, feel free to do anything else in your power to stop me. I will limit myself to sparring; however, I will also allow myself the use of one muggle weapon. Do you agree to these terms?"

"Heh. Alright, if you say so. But don't come running to me if you end up dead (1)," Ackley said with a grin as he drew his wand.

Ed smirked and drew a quick transmutation circle on the floor with a piece of chalk. He transmuted a five inch long knife and then stood back up, tucking the knife in a belt loop before moving into a fighting stance. "Whatever. Now come on, before I think you're having second thoughts."

Ackley didn't waste a moment with his first attack, a silent trip jinx. Ed dodged it nimbly and rushed towards Ackley.

"One thing you should always remember about sparring," Ed said as he got within 3 feet of his opponent, "is to always use any advantage you have." He used a quick left uppercut to knock Ackley backwards. "Get within hitting range of them. Then they can't point a wand at you, because they don't have enough room to cast a spell on you."

Ackley pulled himself up off the ground. "STUPIFY!" He shouted, pointing the wand at Ed before he had the chance to dash in again.

"Also use speed to your advantage," Ed instructed, dodging again, but this time not bothering to go in for the attack, opting to just stand there calmly instead while Ackley came up with another spell. The other students laughed at his obvious inferiority to Ed.

Turning an interesting shade of red, Ackley growled in frustration. "THAT'S _IT_! I'M NOT GOING TO GO EASY ON YOU ANYMORE! Incarcerous!"

Suddenly ropes burst forth from the ground, capturing the smirking Edward Elric, hero of the people. Ed maintained his standing position as he worked his hand over to the knife, which he had been reaching for before his capture. The automail arm slid with relative ease to the knife, but Ed did not let on that escape was in his grasp.

"See! I _told _you that your muggle fighting was second-rate! Just look where it got you," he said, inclining his head in what he must have assumed to be a dashingly aloof manner. "Tied up and helpless. I don't see how such a pathetic—"

"Oh just shut the hell up already!" Ed shouted. He gave a quick, powerful flick of his wrist, letting the knife blade cut through the rope like butter. "Why is it that everyone who fights me feels like they have to give a huge monologue about how they are better than me!?" Ed asked, throwing his hands back in a gesture of annoyance.

"How did you get out of there?" Ackley asked with shock.

"What, are you blind? I cut the ropes." Ed said, still standing in the middle of the severed rope, knife in hand.

"But you shouldn't have been able to move!"

"Goes to show ya you can't always rely on magic. There's bound to be someone it just won't work on."

"Stupefy!" Ackley shouted, using the first thing that sprang into his mind; instantly a red light blasted out of the tip of his wand. Ed quickly moved the blade up in front of him, angling the blade using mental calculations. The red beam hit the knife an instant later, and reflected itself directly back to Ackley, stunning him. He fell over with a slight thunking sound.

Ed sighed and relaxed his shoulders. "So much for that. Well, now you know that muggle fighting methods can be just as effective as magic if used right, but it takes a lot of hard work to get there. I'm going to start you all out with warm-ups, and if by the end of those you don't think you can handle it, I suggest you either deal with it and try to improve, or give up. This is not something you can do without giving it your all. Now everyone, go outside." He was met with blank looks. "What?"

"Why do we have to go outside? Can't we just do the warm-ups here?" asked a third year girl from Hufflepuff.

"Heh, no. there's not _nearly_ enough space in here to work with. You should all be glad that I'm not teaching you the way my sensei did. Even if I wanted to, there's not nearly enough time. Or enough islands for that matter…" Ed trailed off in thought. That received the classic anime silence response, as everyone in the room looked at him with tilted heads as they tried to figure out what islands had to do with sparring.

Harry was the first to break away from the spell. "Alright, everyone! You heard him! Let's go outside!" He shouted, flinching at how his voice rebounded around the silent room, mentally reminding himself that there wasn't any reason to yell when everyone was already quiet.

The class came back to life as they followed orders and began meandering out of the Room of Requirement, chattering to each other about what they might be doing that required them to go outside.

-----------------five minutes later-----------------

"Okay! Before I can teach you anything, you'll need to warm up. My sensei always said that to train the mind, one must also train the body. If we start out with sparring training, then there will be more blood flowing to your head, which will make it easier for you to learn alchemy. But first things first, you need to stretch and prepare. I want 20 push-ups and 100 crunches. When you're done with that, do sixty jumping jacks, and run two laps around the castle. Once you're done with that, I'll give you a ten-minute water break, and we'll start back up again. I'm starting you all out with an easy training schedule, but by the end of my time here you should be able to do triple this much. Now go!"

A series of loud groans and protests ensued, but eventually everyone in the DA got started on their new daily regimen, joining Ed, who had already started. It'd been a good while since he had time to give himself a suitable workout, so he would enjoy the time he had.

**Ed's POV:**

I wish Al were here. Then again, if he were, then I probably wouldn't be this far in over my head… And wishing won't get me anywhere. I need to do some more research while I'm here and see if there's _anything_ that might pertain to the Gate or dimension travel. And so long as I'm here, I might as well do some automail maintenance, while I still have time to do it right. If I get home and Winry sees her precious automail in ruins, it won't matter that I've just risked my ass to see her again. I'll be out cold for a week… What I wouldn't give for quality tools and screws that I don't have to continually readjust! And I just can't seem to find anything here that I can use to transmute into metal as strong as this!

Heh. Now she's even got _me_ talking like an automail freak.

-sigh- Winry. I wish you were here… well, that just gives me one more reason to finish this up as soon as possible.

Alright, five laps around the school and I'll come back to check on everyone again. They seem to be doing fine for now, a bit out of shape, but for the most part, they seem capable. These people rely on magic too much, that's all. Probably don't even make their own beds in the morning… some magic fairy probably comes and does it for them (2).

**Normal POV:**

Two hours had passed, and Ed had allowed an extra break for the students when three had collapsed and the rest were whining so loudly he couldn't hear himself think. Finally, all the students had finished the assignment and were ready to spar. Or at least they would be if they didn't all look so dead. Ed sighed.

"Alright, I guess I didn't realize how unaccustomed to physical exercise you would all be. I'll let you have an extra fifteen-minute break. Go ahead and take a power nap if you feel you already need it. Harry? Hermione? Ron? Will you all come with me?" The golden trio shrugged, but obliged anyway.

"That was one killer workout, Ed. Are you sure you aren't pushing too hard? They're not like you; they can't endure all that," Hermione said as she approached, slightly sweaty, but still in a much better condition than Ron, who resembled a dead raccoon.

"If they can't even take that, then there's no way they can spar. They just need to get more exercise. If they fall behind that's their own problem. But I called you over here because I was wondering… what that talking picture said—" Ed started.

"Dumbledore," corrected Harry.

"Yeah, sure. Whatever. What that talking picture said," Harry rolled his eyes, "I was thinking… Doesn't it seem… I don't know… too easy? I mean, now we know where the locket is, and we have a general idea of where the palm tree in a skort is (3). I can't help but feel like this is all a trap."

"Ed, since when did we have any idea where Voldemort is? Last I checked, there were still no clues pointing out where he was," said Hermione.

"On the contrary. There's been plenty. I'm assuming you read the news?"

"We do when we get the chance. And I don't think I've seen you with a paper either," said Ron.

"Actually I met with that Dobby guy and asked if I could have the newspapers from the past week, both from the wizarding world and the muggle community. If you know what you're looking for, it isn't hard. There's been raids, explosions, and deaths all over the London area, though most of it was only mentioned in muggle papers. In this wizarding paper of yours, which I would like to point out is biased and inaccurate, there have been two incidents there of note which required government intervention. I know for a fact that wherever Envy goes there's always destruction, and if that weren't enough, one thing all the reports had in common were eye-witness reports claiming that a person who could alter their body was seen causing massive damage. It has to be Envy."

"How can you be so sure? It could have been a metamorphagus like Tonks," pointed out Harry.

"Because there's no such thing as a coincidence, or at least not one of this size. Envy is the only one who could have done all of this, I'm sure of it. I'm willing to admit that the locket isn't a set-up, as there's no concrete proof of it as of yet, and because that Dumbledore guy was the one who suggested it. You all obviously trust him, so for the time being, I'll have to too. But just having evidence about the location of Envy that points directly to London… I've dealt with him before. He's more cunning than he looks (4). He's drawing us there on purpose. He wants us to know where he is."

"If that's true, what are we gonna do? It's not like we can just walk right up to You-Know-Who and say, 'hi, I've walked into your trap so you could try to kill me. Would you like to impale us all now, or would you prefer to torture us first?'" exclaimed Ron hysterically.

"I agree, but there's not much good in worrying about it now. We'll finish the DA class, and then we'll talk about it some more tonight," suggested Harry.

"Yeah. Their break time is about up anyway. Well, let's go. We don't have much time to waste."

(1): I heard that somewhere and I thought it was hilarious. Goes right up there with "don't come pointing at me if you lose your hand!" So I had to use it. Don't own either phrase.

(2): or a house elf! XD oh great… now hanjuuluver is speaking in third person again. Just thinking about a house elf makes her do this… -sighes- but hanjuuluver had to make Edo-kun say that. She doesn't know why, she just did. She finds her muses difficult to refuse…

(3): my friends will never let me live that down. In our group, I'm Envy and I always have to point out that my hair does _not_ I repeat, does _not_ resemble a palm tree, as it has no fronds. The fact that I just called Envy a palm tree in my own fic… -sigh- I may never be able to claim real hair again… See what I sacrifice for the sake of your enjoyment?

(4): again, for your entertainment.

A/N: Okay, that's enough work for now. I want to at least get this chapter up before I leave for Colorado for two weeks. Besides, my brain left me again. I wish it would stop doing that… SO! I have a fic going called "A Series of Fluffy Fics," and I need more requests for pairings and such! I could always use more! Also, for anyone who likes Spiral or Loveless, please read the one-shots I wrote for those! I hardly get any reviews or hits on either, and it makes me kinda sad… they're both angst. Lots and lots of angst. I also have a nice, fluffy fic for Spirited Away if you're interested. There should be one more chapter to that, and then I'll be done! Ok, advertising is done. This is the part where I bribe you all with your choice of pudding, pie, or fresh sopapillas! Yum! So please review?

You know you're from New Mexico when…

You snicker whenever someone from out of state tries to pronounce your last name.

You've had a school day cancelled because there was half an inch of snow on the ground (and you were scared when it was still there two hours later).

You know what an Arroyo is.

There is a kachina somewhere in your home or yard.

You believe that bags of sand with a candle in them are perfectly acceptable Christmas decorations.

You have license plates on your walls, but not on your car.

You have to sign a waiver to buy hot coffee at a drive-up window. (don't even ask…)

You know Vegas is a town in the northeastern part of the state.

You are afraid to drive through Mora and Espanola.

And that concludes today's New Mexico culture lesson. Ja ne! Review!


	30. The Real Lessons Begin

Okay, so as I'm writing this, I'm on a beautiful road in the middle-of-nowhere Colorado on the drive up to Telluride (the ride is much better than the destination. We're gonna hike! Yay! XD –is a tree-hugger-) With a gorgeous stream running quick and clear right alongside us and trees everywhere! I love it! And yet I am making myself take the time to write this for you all so I'll have an update when I get back (and look at the awesome rock formations!!! So cool!! SQUEE!!!-sticks camera out window and takes picture-) I hope you all appreciate it!

Notes on the last chapter: my recently discovered exercise alter-ego, Kuan, says that the workout really isn't that bad. You should try it some time. I agree with the first part, but not so much the last part. I'm lazy, and so it would build my morale to find out everyone else is to. Granted, I actually use most of Ed's assigned routine as my own on the rare occasions I actually exercise (with the exception of the castle bit as there is a severe lack of such buildings in New Mexico, as it is), so I can actually say from experience that it isn't that bad. I originally had a whole rant for this, but decided to skip it cuz it took up too much room.

Disclaimer: me no own FMA or HP.

Last chapter: Ed makes wizards and witches exercise.

Chapter 30: The Real Lessons Begin

"Alright, Break's over! I told you all when we started it wouldn't be easy, but for those of you who continue trying, you will find the struggle worth it," Ed said, rousing the seemingly dead students.

"Yeah, and I'm sure that when I get up tomorrow and fall out of my bed because I can't use my legs I'll be very grateful," commented one student sardonically.

"If you're that sore after this you'll probably fail both alchemy _and_ sparring. Endurance plays a large factor in both. If you're that weak, you should leave and stick to your wand waving and Latin chanting. Bye-bye!" Ed said with a taunting wave.

"You're only mocking magic because you can't use it!" The boy retaliated.

Ed slid his wand out of his sleeve in an instant – he cast a levitating spell and then magically glued the boy's head to a tree branch before proceeding with his lesson as if nothing had happened.

"Now that you've had your work-out, we'll start the real sparring practice. In alchemy, there is a phrase: All is one and one is all. Does anyone know what this means?"

Everyone turned to Hermione, who, for once, wasn't raising her hand. Then, tentatively a young Hufflepuff girl raised her hand.

"Yes?" Ed asked, acknowledging her.

"The one, being a person, is only a small part of the world, which is the whole…" The girl looked up at him, asking if she should continue. Ed nodded. "But the world is made up of many singular individuals, so one is all?"

"Yes, that's right. It took me quite some time to figure that out for myself. The tough truth is if one of you dies, nothing will change. Yes, those close to you will be upset, but life will go on. You're just a small part of the world. Do what you like, and live your life, but never once forget that your existence is a fragile thing. You have to fight to protect it. Your strongest weapon is your will to live; lose that, and you lose everything." Ed paused for effect.

"The foundation of all sparring is balance. If you fall, that will be your opponent's chance to kill you, and trust me – they will. The enemy we face holds no value in human life and will not be lenient just because you're kids." A few students tried to protest the title of "kid," but Ed moved on before they could. "So today, we're learning five stances. All you have to do is hold each stance for two minutes. Don't scoff. It's much harder than it sounds. First, a simple one. This pose is best for defense, but you can attack from it as well," Ed said, moving into the stance: Feet spread about two feet apart, with the left foot pointed straight forward, while the right was turned out at a 90 degree angle with the leg bent slightly. He turned his body at a 45 degree angle from the right foot and crossed his arms in front of him in a sideways T shape.

The Golden Trio instantly recalled the stance from one of their first sparring lessons with Ed and quickly moved into the pose, counting the seconds that went by so they could tell when their two minutes had concluded. Only Harry and Hermione accomplished the task on their first try, and by the second try, Ron, Ginny, and a pair of brown-haired brothers, Kaoru and Claus Valca, joined their ranks. Eventually, after several failed attempts due to incorrect stance or giving into tired legs, everyone accomplished the stance.

"The next stance is mostly to improve balance, but you can also use it to kick. The third stance is the same, only switching legs and arms. The arm position in this stance is the same as the last stance, so you mostly just have to worry about your legs," Ed explained, demonstrating the stance. Balancing on one leg, he moved his other leg up and in a 7 shape, letting his lifted foot stretch slightly forward, making sure his horizontally placed arm was the same one as his lifted leg. "Now your turn," Ed instructed, remaining in the pose. "Once you've finished one side, switch to the other.

Ten minutes later, Ed found himself shaking his head in a mix of disappointment and pity. So far, only three students had managed to catch on, and none of them were a part of the Golden Trio, despite the fact he had been working on the stance with them a little bit everyday for the past three days. He sighed. Today would be a long one…

"Once you complete both sides you should keep moving. If you don't then you'll cramp up when you start again. I don't care if you stretch some or if you go over the last stances again if you want, but you might be sorry if you just stop now. Once I see that everyone is done with the stance we can move on to the last set."

Another twenty minutes had passed before everyone had accomplished the pose, and although most students had taken Ed's advice, some had still decided they didn't care and opted to sprawl out on the warm grass and relax.

"It seems as if everyone has finally managed to hold the pose on each side, so we can move on to the last set. Once again, I want you to try it with each leg. Once you do, then you can take a break. We'll be done with sparring for the day. This position is ideal for drop kicks, catching yourself if you fall, and getting under the enemy's line of offence. Its used in close combat, within three or four feet of your opponent." Ed moved to a low squat and held one leg straight out in front of him, parallel to the ground, keeping both arms straight out on either side of him.

Eager to be done with sparring, the students hastily moved into the position. Or at least they tried to. Almost every one of them lost balance and fell over before even achieving the stance.

_'A long day indeed,'_ Ed thought to himself.

------------------I LOST THE GAME AGAIN! DAMN IT!--------------------

The sparring lessons finally ended about an hour after the last stance had been introduced, and all the members of the DA were back in the Room of Requirement (with the exception of four students: one who hadn't drunk any water and collapsed due to dehydration and three who suffered such bad cramping from relaxing too long between poses they couldn't keep going. Ed had sent them all to the hospital wing, having to carry two of them on his shoulders.) collapsed on the chairs with their eyes closed, relishing the cool air on their hot, sweaty faces.

Edward allowed them some extra time to recuperate from their first training session after Harry came up to him and explained that if he didn't, they'd probably all sleep through the alchemy lecture. Once they had been given twenty minutes of convalesce, Ed stood up and wrote two things on the board.

**_Equivalent Exchange _**

**_All is one, One is all _**

****

The Fullmetal turned to face his students.

"These are the two most important concepts in alchemy, and also in life," he began. The class turned their attention to him.

"Equivalent exchange. To obtain, something of equal value must be lost. This is the first law of alchemy, and it is solidly unchangeable. With alchemy, you can only reform what is already there. Don't be fooled though. Sand can become more than sand, and grass can become more than grass. The key to a successful transmutation is to know the chemical composition of what is in front of you, and what you want to make out of it. For instance, glass has the same chemical components as sand. The glass is nothing more than heated, compressed sand. Because of this, you can change one into the other.

"But there are limitations as well. Because of equivalent exchange, you can never make more of something than what is already there. For instance, I can break this chair and fix it again with alchemy, I can even re-shape or decorate it, but I couldn't make it taller without subtracting the width, or the sturdiness. I can only work with what materials it already has. Equivalent exchange.

"This brings me to the second law. All is one, one is all. We already talked a bit about this before, but there is one more point to it. Life only flows in one direction. Once something dies, it is no longer part of the 'all' and because of this, it can never be brought back. **_Ever._** Life flows only one way, and we mere humans have no business with the dead.

"Human Transmutation: The forbidden act of trying to bring another living being back to life. It is forbidden only because it doesn't work. Once a soul has crossed the Gate, it is gone. You can never get it back, so don't try. All it gets you is death. If not an instant death, then a slow and painful one. There is no other ending to the story," Ed said, Ed said, eyes penetratingly sharp and darkly blazing. The weariness of everyone in the room fled at the stare, and each face turned sad and introspective; some because of those they had lost, and others because they couldn't imagine what had happened to their instructor that could leave behind eyes like that.

After making eye contact with everyone in the room, lingering briefly on Harry, Ed's eyes cooled and he continued the lecture.

"There are three steps to a successful transmutation," he began, tension in the room lightening just a little at the change of topic. "These steps include evaluation, deconstruction, and reconstruction. You achieve it by knowing the chemical breakdown of a substance, and channeling your own energy into the last two steps. I can't help you any more on that part. It's up to you to figure out how to do that. This energy is directed through a transmutation circle. There are different circles to use, depending on what you want to transmute. But before we work on those, you all need to learn how to draw perfect shapes: the circle, triangle, square, hexagon, and octagon (2) Once you do that, you can perhaps experiment with other shapes, but for now stick to these." Ed then went into a brief explanation about what each shape would lend itself to in a circle and then instructed everyone to try it for themselves.

"And it's still only 2:00," Ed whispered to himself, sighing softly before walking around to help students in any way he could.

--------

(1): I think this would be a good time to say I don't actually know anything about sparring. All these stances are entirely made up, as are the uses. I just figured they _might_ be used like that after I randomly came up with them. If anyone out there actually knows some form of martial arts, **_PLEASE_** give me some pointers on how it's actually done so I might be able to improve fighting/teaching scenes, as I don't know a damn thing about any of it. It would be most appreciated. Arigato!

(2):Note from NinjaSquirls: That's cruel! Do you know how hard it is to draw a perfect circle? Mine always come out lopsided…heh – the truth behind Ed's amazing abilities – he figured out how to do array-less transmutation so he'd never have to screw up the drawing again.

Random threat from NinjaSquirls that I'm putting here because it is another truly priceless example of the wrath of Ed (heh). And to make that make sense, NinjaSquirls' nick-name is Ed. Here is the quote: I will have to strip your flesh from your body, braid it into a whip, and flay you with it. And if I have any left, I'm making a book out of it.

This comment was the result of an admittedly horridly phrased sentence.

A/N: And there you have it! Now, I would like to ask for reviews in a different way this time. Statistics. Yes, the evil math-related thing. I looked at my hits. I have 22762 hits. Reviews: 229. do you realize what this means? One person out of every 99.397379912664 people actually review. That's just sad. (partly because it's a pitiful statistic, and also because that means somewhere out there there's 0.397379912664 of a person). This should change. Please help change the course of the review stats and help someone become a whole person via statistical math. It's a good cause!

Rachel: And I'll give reviewers pie! Second helpings for whoever reads and reviews our new Kuusho Rasa fic. It's yaoi flangsty, and the hope was that readers who haven't seen the show before would still be able to read and enjoy it without immense confusion. Please let us know if it worked! And don't forget about the extra pie!

EXTRA NOTE! Sorry this took so long to get up. I just got it back from my editor. Thanks to all the people who ranted at her for me! It worked! ;p I wanted to get this up at _least_ by last Monday, as it was my 18th birthday and I thought it would be kinda fun to get it posted as a weird kind of birthday present to myself… Even I don't know how that works, but hey. But alas, I did not receive it until today, so here it is. Very late, and not all that present-like, but hey.


	31. FINALLY! Leaving Hogwarts!

Wow! It's been a while, hasn't it? Hehehe… sorry bout that… I recently discovered that senior year combined with best friends moving to different states combined with overdoses of math kills plot bunnies… But camping and reviews can revive them! Somewhat… But for the most part yes! They are now undead plot bunnies. Given fuel by what vague outlines I actually have for this story from this point on (and vague might be an overstatement). So, I'm on the computer tonight, October 13th, at 11:00 Mountain time, while parental units are asleep (I've been banned from using the computer this weekend because I have a test on Monday in my Enriched Math Analysis class, which I seriously need a good grade in as of now. But regardless, I'm sneaking on to try to write this up for you guys!) in hopes that this chapter can be completed before my mother gets up at about 1:00 in the morning for no apparent reason and catches me. Well, here goes nothing!

Warning! Disclaimer has mild spoilers for book 7 of Harry Potter. Nothing that gives away any plot, just me ranting. As does my second A/N. You have been warned!

Disclaimer: If I actually owned HP, I would never have put a deadly, venomous, ginormous snake IN A TUBE THAT LOOKS LIKE DUMBLEDORE'S HAT!!!! WHAT THE HECK WAS JK THINKING?!!!! Snakes in tubes are _not intimidating!!!!!_(1E)And Hughes would have found a way to not be dead. Because he's Hughes like that. So ends my disclaimer.

Review of last two chapters: Ed teaches sparring, mentions something about a possible trap set up by Envy for them, teaches alchemy, Harry teaches magic, and I rant about how annoyingly predictable and common this idea of Ed at Hogwarts is. It kills me. It really does.

Chapter 31: FINALLY! Leaving Hogwarts!

The days spent at Hogwarts seemed to stretch out for weeks to Ed (1), and fly by in hours for the Golden Trio. None had realized just how much they had missed being in the old castle with their friends, without having to watch their backs every second for a Death Eater attack. But either way, long or short, the time for them to all leave again had finally come. They were leaving in the morning, right after breakfast and saying goodbye to Dumbledore and McGonagall. The previous night, they had a meeting about what steps they should take next.

----fancy flash back effects go here-----

"So, Ed. You have some idea of what Voldemort might be planning?" Harry asked once they had gone up to the common room and found a secluded corner.

"Well, it's only a theory, but I think he's trying to figure out where we are. The best way to confront an enemy you can't find is to bring him to you. Envy knows that none of us can just stand around while he kills people who have nothing to do with any of this, but beyond getting us there, I don't think he has much of a plan. Perhaps an ambush to kill off Ron and Hermione, but the two of us he'll probably want to off himself." Ed explained.

"Oh, thanks! That makes me feel loads better! You could at least try to sound more concerned about our impending doom!" Ron squeaked in as menacing manner as he could. Which, being Ron, wasn't that much.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "So what can we do about it? If that's his logic then he's at least right about us not being able to just sit around. Besides, once we get the locket all that we have left is Nagini (2) and Voldemort himself. We couldn't avoid him if we wanted to!"

"She's right. We have to go. Unless you know of some way around it?" Harry asked curiously.

"Nope. Not at all. Only thing I can suggest is that you three brush up on some more sparring whenever we have the time, and keep up with that magic. Although I still think magic should just be a back-up, because that wand of yours is so easily broken, I have to admit that it's probably a good idea, considering you aren't very adept at alchemy yet. Better to stick with what you know best and use alchemy and sparring as a back up."

"Right," The trio agreed.

Then Harry sighed. "We should get going early tomorrow morning. If we're lucky, we should be able to make it to Grimmauld Place by about noon. I don't know what will be protecting the locket, but it can't be any magical creatures at least. We've seen it, so we know where it is. And after we get it—Well, I guess that's when the fight will really start, isn't it? It just doesn't seem real, does it? Being so close to the end of it after all this. I wonder what we'll do once it's finally over."

"That's something that you'll get to worry about once this thing actually _is_ over. No use losing sleep over it now. Speaking of which, if we want to leave early in the morning we should get to bed now. We should leave right after breakfast," Ed suggested. The trio agreed; the boys said goodnight to Hermione and headed up to their separate rooms for the night.

-------end fancy flashback sequence----------

After showers, breakfast, and packing, they headed up to the headmistress's office one last time to collect the sword and say goodbye to Dumbledore and McGonagall. Or at least that was their plan, but when they arrived, they found McGonagall was gone, and the sword seemed to be missing from its case. The group instantly exchanged looks, but before anything could be done or said Dumbledore spoke up from his painting.

"Minerva had to take care of some business and couldn't be here to see you off, but don't worry, she left the sword here. She placed it in the room with Gryffindor's portrait. I assume you know the way?"

"Yes, Professor. Thanks," Harry said, nodding in appreciation. The group headed for the room with a less-than-thrilled Ed.

"Oh, come off it, mate! It can't be that bad, can it?" Ron asked in response to his short friend. Ed glared at him but said nothing. In less than a minute the foursome were opening the doors to the one-painting room. The sword was immediately visible, propped up against the wall directly in front of them, the light from the window reflecting off the blade and encrusted jewels to leave brightly colored spots on the wall and ceiling. Ed, of course, ignored the beauty of the dancing lights and simply walked in, picked up the sword rather unceremoniously and made to walk back out of the room before his father could get a word in.

It didn't work.

"You could at least say goodbye."

"Yah, well, so could've you. Doesn't mean all that much, does it?" Ed said, rolling his eyes.

"Ed, I told you I'm sorry. I don't expect you to forgive me, but at least listen to me now. Envy's remains have long since been destroyed, but that sword you hold now is probably as close as you are going to get. I crafted that sword myself when William was just a baby. He should have many memories associated with it, so in theory it will act as a weakness."

"Since when have you cared?" Ed asked, turning around to face the portrait double of his father.

Hohenheim sighed. "Ed, do we have to do this again?" he asked wearily. "I _do_ care, you know that." (3)

Ed paused for a moment before saying anything.

"Yeah, I guess I do. Well, Old Man, got places to go and clearly you aren't going to be going with me. Take care of yourself," he said with a wave, walking out of the room with the sword. The trio blinked a few times about the second encounter and followed Ed out of the room, at which point he turned around and handed the sword off to Harry. "Here you go. I think you might need this more than me."

"Ummm… thanks?"

"No problem. Now let's go."

"Alright. Goodbye, Professor Dumbledore!" Harry called out as they started to leave.

"Goodbye, everyone! Oh! And Edward?" Dumbledore queried, causing Ed to pause a moment. "Equivalent Exchange works in more ways than you might think in this world. Take care, now!"

"Yeah, sure. You too," Ed said with a casual wave of his hand as he finished walking out the door.

--------------Tofu is not meet!--------------

(1): and the author of this fic

(2): I will take the time right now to repeat myself. YOU DON'T PUT A SNAKE IN A TUBE!!! Bad Rowling!

(3): this line brought to you by NinjaSquirls, as all my lines turned out horribly sappy and annoying.

Notes of The Brilliant and Esteemed NinjaSquirls

I don't understand why you are so offended by the snake in a tube, when there are so many other egregious sins of writing to be offended by, such as the incredibly weak characterizations, the extremely derivative nature of the plot, and oh yeah, THE BLATANT HETEROSEXUALITY! shudders

I miss green chile! How can I miss green chile?! I don't even like green chile! Damn you, strange chile-lacking state of California!

Heh, that one is mine…and it is true

You know, California does not smell nearly as good after rain, and I wish I knew why. Stupid homesickness…

A general note: I would like it to be known that I am awesome and wonderful and deserve mad props and cookies, since I betaed this on THE SAME DAY IT WAS GIVEN TO ME, even though I am now officially an insanely busy stressed-out Stanford student of awesomeness. smirks

A/N: I wanted this to be longer as it's been forever since I updated last, but my brain is failing me and there is only so much one can put into a leaving scene. Good news is that the next chapter will be horcrux! Which I actually have worked out! Bad news is that school kills motivation for fanfiction. I need more reviews to keep me going. More good news! Thanks to your generous donations to the review inbox, we have made the previous 0.397379912664 person into 0.53441295546558704453441295547th of a person. Isn't that better? Keep the reviews coming to make this statistical person whole!

And I noticed that I neglected to add You Know You Live in New Mexico If… quotes. So I'll put them on here. And if I get enough reviews I'll let you guys help me choose my bumper stickers next time!

You Know You Live in New Mexico If…

Trailers are not referred to as trailers. They are houses. Double-wide trailers are real houses.

A package of white flour tortillas is the exact same thing as a loaf of bread. You don't need to write it on your shopping list; it's a given.

At any gathering, regardless of size, green chili stew, tortillas, and huge mounds of shredded cheese are mandatory.(2E)

Prosperity can be readily determined by the number of horses you own.

A tarantula on your porch is ordinary.

A scorpion in your tub is ordinary.

A poisonous centipede on your ceiling? Ordinary.

A black widow crawling across your bed is terribly, terribly common.

A rattlesnake is an occasional hiking hazard. No need to freak out.

You've ever turned on the Weather Channel and seen the weather condition listed as "Dust."

You've walked through a field or a dirt lot in squishy soled shoes and found yourself an inch taller because of all the goat-heads you've acquired. (3E)

You start looking for hiding when you see a dust devil coming. Call it Natural Instinct.

You tell someone how good it smells after it rains and they all look at you like you're crazy and say "rain doesn't have a smell, especially afterwards."(4E)


	32. Betrayal

I'm sorry!!! I've been saying that a lot recently as far as fanfiction goes. I know I told my reviewers from the last chapter that I would attempt to get this chapter at least written within four weeks of posting the last, but it really didn't happen. So much has been going on this year I hardly get any time to take a breath of air before I'm dumped on again! And that's with only three enriched classes to worry about. I hate being a slow worker…-sigh- but I'm off for winter break, finals are over, and I finally have time to do stuff! Hopefully when next semester starts up I'll be able to keep posting because my only major homework class is going to be enriched Calculus. I'm gunna die. But I kept a C in math!!! -is happy- I'm gonna die in Calc. But better now than when I have to take it in college, ne? Can't risk losing my scholarships, can I? Well, enough about me. I'm starting to ramble and annoy myself.

Disclaimer: I don't own FMA or HP. Also, any ideas in here that were actually in Book Seven (which was horrible! Absolutely, disgustingly predictable…) are completely coincidental. Some ideas were taken from reviewers, two of the most important ones from NinjaSquirls and Dyng Rose (I love them both), and any overlap is entirely unplanned. I am not intentionally taking anything from the books or the FMA movie, as I like to think I am original. As my potential future bumper sticker may say, "I am proudly marching to a different kettle of fish."

Last Chapter: The foursome (1) left the castle with the sword of Gryffindor. Not much else happens, really. Little mysterious message from Dumblykins. On to the new chapter!

Chapter 32: Betrayal

The ride had been surprisingly uneventful. None of the teens was entirely certain why the lack of death and people jumping out at them in efforts to kill them off made them so on-edge, but it did. Their time at Hogwarts had been so peaceful it reminded Harry of the calm before a storm. Calm was bad. It meant something big was about to happen. An idea to use the invisibility cloak to get from the station to Grimmauld Place was suggested by Hermione. the plan was well-accepted, and they quickly worked out the glitches in it.

Two hours later they were in some random back alley about four blocks away from Number Twelve Grimmauld Place, huddling together and speaking softly, not wanting to be heard by the four mice in the corner, the only source of life visible within a one mile radius (Ron had checked the skies shortly after they had gotten off the plane, changing behind an abandoned building and returning about thirty minutes later).

"Okay Hermione, you come with me first," Harry said, pulling out the cloak from his magically enlarged pocket.

"Right. Ed, make sure Ron doesn't go and do something stupid, okay?" she jokingly requested as she got under the cloak and disappeared along with Harry.

"Hey! 'Mione!" some not-so muffled laughter came from seemingly nowhere a few feet away before Harry's voice whispered back to them.

"I'll be back in about fifteen or twenty minutes. Maybe a bit longer if we need to sidetrack or wait for something. Ed, you can put up the wall now and I'll let you know it's me by barking four times."

"Right. Good luck. See you soon, Harry," Ed said before transmuting a brick wall in front of and behind Ron and himself, effectively blocking out anyone who might wander by. He also extended the brick over the top to protect them from any aerial attacks that might come their way. The muggle flying machines were horrible enough, and he had no doubt the wizarding community had found a method of flight even more terrifying than that.

"So, it's just me and you now, eh mate?" Ron said, letting himself drop to the ground to sit.

"Yup."

Several minutes passed in companionable silence before Ron started using his finger to practice his transmutation circles in the dirt and filth that covered what had to be cement.

"You're doing it wrong," Ed said with a small glance at the only half-done sketch. Ron made a disapproving huffing sound.

"Not everyone is as flawless as you, Ed."

Ed laughed and bet over to draw a circle next to Ron's. "See, this is how to do it. You're close, but your square you have there isn't a square. It's a rhombus. You need four ninety-degree angles, not four corners that are off-center. Also, you need to try to make your curve lines less wobbly. Try it again."

And so they passed the time, which eventually ended with four sharp, clear barks coming from outside the wall (which was let down moments later). Ron had perfected the transmutation circle for wall-forming, which he demonstrated by reconstructing the wall Ed had let down earlier once he was safely under the invisibility cloak. The wall was solid, but it looked nothing like brick. Ed fixed that himself and passed the next half hour pondering Dumbledore's parting message, "Equivalent Exchange works in more ways than you might think in this world." Unlike Ron, when Harry came to take him to the house under the cloak, he hadn't made any progress at all. _Stupid man with his nonsensical "advice," _were Ed's last thoughts on the matter for the day as he transmuted all the walls back into the earth and buildings they had been built out of and slipped under the cloak with Harry as the raven-haired teen made one last trip to his godfather's house (which he insisted was still Sirius's house, regardless of what happened to Sirius himself).

Ed found that the second time seeing a house appear from nowhere was just as disturbing as the first, and that this time there was no pink and frilly decorating only made it marginally better. Although why he would take two incredibly run-down deserted looking buildings before two well taken care of (if not eccentric) looking houses was beyond him. Either way, he stepped through the door to the newly materialized house under the safety of the Invisibility Cloak, not taking it off until they were officially through the front door.

"Well, now that we're all here we might as well get started," Hermione said, starting up the stairs, "I don't like the feel of the place."

"Yah, I know what you mean," agreed Ron, following her up the stairs. Harry paused for a few moments—halfway done with putting his cloak back in his pocket—before shaking his head clear and hurriedly finished the job he had been working on before he followed them up the stairs, leaving Ed to follow after him.

--------mini page breaker because I'm lazy and don't want to talk about wall decorations----------

Once at the top of the stairs it took all of two minutes to find the correct room and then the locket, and approximately ten minutes to decide who would pick it up. The conversation went much like this:

"So… who's gunna take it?" Ron asked, elegantly and _oh-so_ discreetly edging away from the glass cabinet that held the latest horcrux.

"Don't worry Ron, we won't make you do it. You probably couldn't take it anyway," Hermione said, jibing the redhead.

"Hey! I could too! I just... didn't want to take away someone's glory is all. I mean, really Hermione, just because a man has the manners—"

"Ron, this is you we're talking about. You're neither a man, nor do you have manners," Hermione pointed out.

"Well at least I—"

"Ron, you don't want to finish that sentence, mate. Besides, it should be me who goes. After all, this is my mission in the first place. I should be the one to take it," Harry pointed out, both volunteering his service and saving his friend from certain death at the hands of his own girlfriend (1).

"Harry, luck isn't always going to help you. If you don't know if you can deal with the unexpected, let someone else take it who can. No offense, but the only reason you've gotten this far is dumb luck. You can't always count on that. Let Hermione or me go. We're probably the most apt at strategy on the spot," Ed pointed out.

"No, you are all along helping me, and I'm not going to put you in with a horcrux," Harry said firmly.

This type of argument carried on for quite some time before it was finally decided that Harry would go and pick it up. This was bound to be something tied in to the Slytherin house, and Harry had more knowledge of Slytherin than any of the others, as well as having the added bonus of being a parseltongue.

"Alright then. Here I go." And with that, Harry opened the cabinet, and picked up the locket. As soon as his fingers met with the cool silver pendant, time stopped and his consciousness was swept inside the small object.

For a few moments, Harry could see nothing but darkness around him, but slowly, a maze started to form around him. The swirling silver walls reminded Harry of the strands of memories he saw in the pensive, and he assumed that that was what the wall was made up of, since he couldn't think of anything else that would result in the little whisps of silver visibly moving in the walls that surrounded him. Just as he began to walk up to a panel for closer inspection, a specter appeared out of nowhere.

The sudden appearance of one Draco Malfoy into the scene before him was surprising to say the least, and before he could stop himself, Harry found the question on his mind leaving his non-corporeal lips.

"Why are you here?"

"What, aren't you glad to see me Potter? Anyway, I'm not actually Draco, per say. I'm his subconscious soul, and the only reason I'm here is because I'm the only Slytheren descendent you've met personally(2). You cannot see someone that you've never met before in this world. It's common sense. Slytherin locket, Slytherin horcrux, Slytherin heir to be present."

"Well then why isn't Voldemort here?"

"You dolt, why would the Master show his soul to someone who's trying to destroy it?" Harry didn't respond, but had to admit this was a valid point. That didn't do anything to help the sudden urge to punch him in the face, though. "So then, I imagine that is your purpose, is it not?"

"Well, yeah, I guess it is."

"You guess it is," Draco said mockingly. "Same brilliantly spoken Potter as before I see. Well, I guess some things never change. This way. gawking isn't going to get you anywhere." And with that, Draco Malfoy stepped into the maze without so much as a glance in Harry's direction to see if he would follow. Harry treaded behind the blond, too dumbstruck by the whole encounter to properly respond.

"Why are you helping me if you know that I want to destroy Voldemort's horcrux?"

Draco paused for a moment before continuing his steady, measured strides that had been inherent from birth. "I cannot answer that right now in full. The Master is present. But to put it in words your puny Gryffindor brain can understand, my family is the guardian of this realm, and we've been duty bound to both protect it and act as guides to anyone who should appear, regardless of who they are or what their intentions may be. And don't touch that, you idiot! Haven't you ever been taught not to mess with things you don't know anything about!" Draco scolded as Harry started to reach out and touch one of the swirling walls.

"Oh! Sorry! I wasn't thinking."

"Oh, well that's highly surprising. I'm amazed you managed to come to that conclusion all by yourself. Look, I've told you already that I am also the guardian of this place. If you so much as brush a sleeve against these walls or myself I will have every right to smite you here and now and confine your existence to this place for all eternity, and don't think for a moment that I won't, Potter!"

Harry said nothing and they continued along the winding, complex maze in a silence that was only broken from time to time by whispers that seemed to come from the walls themselves and directions from Draco to keep Harry focused with a brief explanation that without focus, Harry's being would be lost to the maze. It was an ancient design created by one of the first of the Malfoy family line. The man had always hated the idle and lazy, and had created that trick to make sure that those of such a kind would die instantly.

"Guess you're lucky I told you about that, Potter. If I hadn't you'd certainly be dead by now. To be honest, I'm rather surprised you weren't killed before you reached this horcrux. How many do you have left, anyway?"

"Like I would tell you! You'd probably—"

"Go tell the Dark Lord?" There was a pause in the conversation as the two stopped moving for a moment. "Don't worry. I wouldn't. I'm still far from his most trusted and loyal servant, and even if I would tell him, I'm the subconscious. My conscious self won't recall any of this, so I'd be unable to speak anyway."

"I still don't think I can trust you."

"Fine, fine. But let's keep moving, Potter. I don't want to waste my entire day talking to you. I have much bigger things to worry about," Draco said, returning to his brisk walk through the winding maze.

"I thought you just said you were the subconscious. That means you hardly do anything anyway, right?"

"Potter, I'd rather de-gnome my own garden that talk to you, let alone help you. Remember, I'm only here because I have to. Watch out!" Draco said, jumping on Harry to push him out of the way at the same instant a brown, furry, five-legged spider-like creature jumped out from around the corner to the left. Harry lay stunned as Draco Malfoy's body collided with him and stayed there until the blond regained his wits, and then a few additional moments as he untangled himself from the Chosen One. Harry continued to lie useless on his back, taking much longer to come back to his senses, with good reason. After all, it was his spinal cord that just got slammed into the ground, which was much harder than one would think it would be considering it should all just be a figment of his imagination (more or less, anyway. Who knew how magic like this worked?) Which would also partly explain the stupid ramble of words that then left his mouth.

"That what huh?"

"If you can't string together a proper sentence then please refrain from saying anything!" Draco shouted back, shooting a blasting curse at the large, brown, five-legged creature. It skidded back a few inches, but didn't go far.

"What is that?"

"What does it look like? And in case you didn't notice, I'm a little busy here," Draco said, trying the blasting curse again to the same response, "So if you're not going to help, than just stay out of my way! I don't want you dying here and leaving your filthy presence in this place."

Harry realized the point to Draco's words and quickly stood up himself, whipping his wand out from his sleeve in a matter of seconds and attempting a stunning spell, which did as much good as a small breeze does at blowing a brick off course. Which is to say, nothing.

"DURO!" Malfoy shouted, turning the Quintaped to stone.

"Why didn't you think of that before?" Harry accused.

"Because I wasn't expecting that thing this soon! We must have been detected already. The Dark Lord must have put in stealth sensory spells that weren't here before. That's the only way he could have known to send that monster at us. Things are going to get much harder from here on in. You'll have to trust me."

"Yeah. Okay, but this trust only goes so far."

"Same here. And if you stay down that long again or try to disturb my concentration I'll kill you myself."

Harry scoffed at the attempt at a death threat, earning a dark glare from the snarky teen.

"Watch it, Potter. I should have let that Quintaped get you the first time around." And without another word, the two continued on down the maze.

Several minutes passed in silence as the two made a left, a left, a right, walked through a wall that turned out to be a passage instead of a wall (_'These Slytherins and their tricks. That's just bloody evil, that is.'_ Harry thought) and then another left before the two were attacked again. This time, they were both prepared for the attack, although neither was entirely certain what they were sending their spells at until they cast a silencing spell and a stunning at the same time. The silencing spell hit, and the stunning spell bounced off the wall several feet above the target's head, flying right back at Harry, who jumped out of the way not even a moment before the red beam would have hit him.

Their attacker turned out to be a small, elf-like creature that Harry vaguely recognized as an Erkling(3). Draco's smug look was back on his face.

"Nice aim, oh Hero-of-the-People. It does me good to see such an amazing performance of idiocy. I love being right."

"Shut up, you prick. You wouldn't have been any better off if you didn't already know everything in this place," Harry rebuked, consoling his hurt pride and casting a binding jinx on the three-foot-tall creature.

"And another cunning comeback from Potter, who again forgets being told only minutes ago that the creatures were being unpredictable. And here I thought it was impossible for someone to get any denser."

"Step off, Malfoy. I don't have time for this now," Harry declared, walking off towards the left fork in the maze.

"Says the one walking in the wrong direction. Charming," sneered Draco, walking down the path on the right. Harry glowered after him before walking past the tied-up Erkling and following the platinum blond(4).

As they walked, Harry started to think. _'This isn't getting anywhere. Sure, finding Voldemort's soul is the whole reason I'm here, but… I should at least _try_ to get information out of this git, right? I mean, subconscious or not, he's still –or maybe just was—a Death Eater. He has to know something… I wonder how I can get him to tell me anything. He doesn't want to say anything that'll give Voldemort leverage on him, and as much as I hate to admit it, he isn't an idiot. He won't give up any information without a fight. I'll have to trick him into telling me something. Family things maybe, or how he got to be the guardian. Is it just the Malfoy family? Has it always been this way? The history of the locket itself might be something good to know… I doubt telling He-who-can't-pick-a-normal-name trivia about the horcrux will do much, but then again, I never thought his childhood would matter that much. Shows that even I can be wrong sometimes, so a little extra information won't hurt. Not to mention Hermione would kill me if I gave up the opportunity to learn something more about this history of the founders.'_

"Tell me again, why exactly is your family, of all people, entrusted with a job like protecting the horcrux? Does your slave master actually trust you that much? Or was it just by default?"

"Tell me again, is your stupidity genetic, or is it just your special talent?" Harry glared at Draco's comment, but remained silent. "If you really want to know, it went to the Black family first, but after so many of their descendants became blood traitors or married muggles, the duty passed on to us. Besides, it was our duty to protect the _locket_, not the horcrux. This locket contains the history and pasts of all the oldest pure blood families. We are entrusted with the duty of protecting this. The maze you see is the memories of generations of pure bloods. Everything you see here is created from memories."

"So this has nothing to do with Vol—"

"Don't speak his name aloud, you idiot! Do you possess any shor-term memory at all? He already knows that we're here, do you truly wish to inform Him of our exact location?"

"Don't pretend you don't want that. You worship at his feet! What would you care if he killed me?" Harry retorted, avoiding saying Voldemort because of Draco's advice.

"Is that what you think? That I'm in it because I like it? You're letting your incorrect assumptions apply to all the Death Eaters. Tell me, what do you think He would do if any of the Death Eaters defied him?" Draco paused for Harry to answer the rhetorical. "Death. Not only to them, but their whole family. I'm in it because my parents are in it. Not to mention, if I had refused it would be seen as an act of defiance on behalf of my family; I for one am not going to let them die without even changing anything. That's just a fool's choice. The only thing that makes you such a wonder-boy is you don't have a family to worry about. You don't have to think about what would happen if every last one of them were killed, or have to have nightmares over it every night knowing it was your fault. You're quick to blame others, Potter, but have you ever considered that not everyone on the 'evil side' chooses to be there? Maybe now you'll get off that high horse of yours and think about us lowly others that you sentence to Azkaban."

Harry couldn't have responded even if he knew how. He saw a large flash of black and orange and tackled Draco backwards to avoid whatever was attacking them, and then—

Harry couldn't, at first, identify what he was seeing. The change had happened so fast that it took him a while to realize he was no longer in the cold, swirling maze from before, but at a large mansion with a huge, lush garden. It was, judging from the position of sun, high noon.  
Just as he made this observation, he heard a voice drifting over to him from the manor. If he hadn't seen the face the voice was coming from, he wouldn't have believed it to be Draco Malfoy. It was nothing like the harsh, cold, and sardonic voice he was used to hearing, but rather a very different tone-almost _kind_, if that were possible for a Malfoy.  
He was talking to a small boy, probably only three or four years younger than Draco, who also seemed to be younger. Probably in his second year at Hogwarts. They seemed to be in a hurry for some reason.  
"Come on, Cain. We're going on a trip. Are you ready?" Draco asked.  
The boy didn't say anything. He just looked backward at the edifice that loomed above them.  
"Don't worry, it'll be fine. This time we won't get caught." But Harry could feel Draco was unsure. Another first for the arrogant blond. "They can't keep doing this to you. Just because you're a squib doesn't mean you aren't family. If we take you to the Muggle town, I'm sure someone will take you in. Even if they don't know of the noble Malfoy house, even _they_ should see how lucky they would be to get the chance to raise you. Now, come on, Cain, we have to go now."  
Cain looked up at Draco and nodded. Taking his big brother's hand, the two walked off together.

Suddenly, the scene changed, and Harry was standing in a room that looked very much like what a dungeon should look like—nothing at all like the ones the school tried to pass off as such.

"You did this yourself, Draco. Neither of you would be in this situation were it not for your incompetence and naivety. Helping a squib is almost as bad as trying to save a muggle, and worse yet, you defied the family with the intention of living with muggles. Were you not our only acknowledged heir, you would die here by my hand. As it were, you must live to carry on the Malfoy legacy, so the only way to teach you the error of your ways is to have you kill this squib you were trying to save." Harry's attention was drawn to Lucius' voice, but as soon as he located the source, his eyes were attracted to a different sight entirely than the tall, malicious blond. The small child was magically bound to a large stone table, clearly frightened to death.

"But Father, he's my brother!"

"No one else knows that. Besides, how could a Squib ever be considered a member of any pureblood family? That _thing_ is a disgrace. And it's your job to get rid of it. Take any weapon you wish."

Draco stood still for only a moment—although time in any memory seemed almost non-existent, and when it was there, it was always drawn out to make situations like these seem to last far longer than they did—then walked over to the armory wall, passing his stationary brother as he went, and grabbed a large battle ax. For some reason, Harry knew he chose this so that the death would be quick, and certain. No chance of a half-done injury that did nothing more than cause bleeding and pain.

The last thing Harry saw was the ax raised in the air, and the last thing he heard was the sickening thunk of the blade as it sliced through the neck and reverberated on the stone tabletop.

The sound still echoed through his mind as he slowly returned to his current reality inside the maze.

Once he regained his sight, he found himself looking directly into the cold, piercing eyes of the grown Draco Malfoy.

"Filthy blood traitor, get off of me this instant! I ought to kill you right here for that!" the young Slytherin said, shoving Harry off of him. Harry would have retorted that he was only trying to save him, but at the moment his mind still couldn't register anything.

"So, you've found me, Potter." The hissing voice was unmistakable. Suddenly Harry was as aware of the situation as he ever could be.

"_You!_" Harry hissed in parseltongue, not even realizing he has slipped into the language.

"_Who else did you expect to see here? Your parents?_"

"_You will die. __**Now!**_" Harry said, drawing his wand.

Voldemort hissed, a twisted smile forming on the mutated face as he drew his wand as well.

"Avada—"

"CONFRINGO!" The spell did not come from Harry, and when he turned to look, he saw Draco had been the one to cast the spell that caused the soul fragment to explode. "Now don't you ever say that I never did anything to end his reign."

"Draco… umm… than—"

"I don't want to hear that from you. You've taken up enough of my time. Even if my conscious self won't recall this encounter at all, you can bet we'll be off-beat for weeks after this. Helping a prick like you is unsettling enough without having to remember it. Now go. You've got something better to do, don't you? Frolicking in fields full of daisies or something?"

And for once the snide remark made Harry smile as he faded out of the maze.

---------------------------

(1): That would be Ron's girlfriend, not Harry's girlfriend. Harry is not going to have a pairing since so many of you are against slash/yaoi and the only girl I would pair Harry up with (Luna) is not going to be in this fic.

(2): Now, this is a bit of a stretch. Using the connections of the Malfoy's to the Blacks, and from the Blacks to… who knows, I am going to claim that there is a vague connection to the Slytherin house from the Malfoy family via disowned people. Although Sirius would have fit more closely, this scene just wouldn't work with him. Plus, Draco is more fun so I came up with this as an excuse to fit him in. If you don't like it, either deal with it or stick someone else's name in here.

(3): I'd like to apologize for not having a good description for the erkling. I did a considerable amount of research on it and found out what it was and read a German poem which mentioned him, as well as referencing several other encyclopedia-type sources, and I couldn't find a good description. JKR based the erkling on the German mythological creature known as the erl-king. So far, I can't figure out what she changed, but it must have been something, right? But what the erkling does is it some how allures people (children usually) into their death. The poem was probably the most accurate thing I found, and based on this, it seems as if the erl-king actually takes the soul/spirit of the victim, leaving behind the body. Fun, isn't it? If you want pictures to get a better idea, look up either the erkling or the erl-king on google images. Thanks for your patience!

(4): I hate myself now. I'm repeating things!!! Noooo!!!

A/N: First, I would like to say, WHY CAN'T I FIND ANY SNARKY!DRACO FICS WITHOUT IT BEING DRACO/GINNY!!! Seriously! What the heck?!??!? When inspiration for character dialogue is needed, fan fiction helps, unless you can't find any!!!! Gesh!! Why is a snarky Draco so hard to find? Why must everyone make him into either a manwhore or make him fluffy and thoughtful (which I love, but it isn't useful at all).

That said, I worked really hard on this chapter since it's complex and in-depth. Not to mention I loved writing Draco and attempting to give him at least a little background. Although, I have to say the scene where Harry saves Draco went entirely different than I wanted it to. I was aiming for snide dialogue leading up to Harry punching Draco, then leading to the scene. It ended up with Harry sympathizing with Draco and trying to save him. Totally different direction on that one, ne? oh, and if you were wondering what the orange and black blur was… I don't know. I was thinking tiger, even though there probably aren't any magical tigers, but it was the first thing I thought of so in it went!

Anyway, this chapter was fun to write and extremely challenging (you try doing a maze without it being "turn, turn, turn, turn, RANDOM MONSTER!! –kills- turn, turn, turn, turn, DEATH!" It's quite a challenge, I tell you!) But because there was so much going on, it was even longer than usual and took forever to write. Not to mention school keeping me from even starting with this until after break. Sorry again about that! So please let me know I haven't lost all my readers due to extremely long waits!! I'm so sorry!!! Forgive me? Review? Please? I even made this chapter twice as long as usual just for you!

Oh! And since you've been so awesome about waiting forever for me, you get to pick my bumper stickers for my car! You only get three votes per review. just write down the number of the bumper stickers you choose.

Animal testing is futile! The animals always get nervous and give the wrong answers

If you believe you can tell me what to think, I believe I can tell you where to go.

Yes, I've heard of 'decaf'. What's your point?

Caution! I drive like you do!

Proudly marching to the beat of a different kettle of fish

Some days, it's just not worth gnawing through the straps

Sanity is a state of mind ...but the taxes are so high, I had to move away.

DO NOT DISTURB Occupant is disturbed enough already

Why suffer from insanity when you can revel in it?

Question Authority - Don't ask why, just DO IT!

Legalizing Concealed Weapons would be just fine if stupidity was outlawed

Where are we going? Why am I in this handbasket?

EARTH FIRST! We can stripmine the other planets later!

[Alien face Nice little planet you've got here. Shame if something happened to it.

Those who can, Teach. Those who cannot teach ARE RUNNING THE SCHOOLS!

Notes of NinjaSquirls: Hee! Your Harry is so in love with Draco.


	33. Past Connection

Okay, I know that just because I start writing this chapter right after I finished the last chapter does not mean it will get

Little word of warning. I haven't written anything more than an un-posted drabble for the past two weeks, and I just finished doing my calc homework. I blame that. And if anyone here likes Chrono Crusade, once I finish one of my big fics (either this one or my post-gate fic) I'll be starting a multi-chaptered one for that. Chrono/Rosette, of course, although there will be an abusive ex-boyfriend angle with Aion/Chrono, but that won't be the pairing. If that makes any since. And now that I've finished advertising a fic I haven't even started yet (but probably will start sooner than intended if I get enough people who say they like the idea), I will get on with the fic you all came here to read in the first place. And again, thanks to everyone who reviewed, voted, and puts up with my mass stupidity and inability to post.

Disclaimer: the fIrst puDdle OWeN jumped in spAshed Nick in the face. the boy Yelled, "Tod is a fisH! If you wIsh oN a fish, you get one wish!" and then turned into a froG.

Last chapter: Harry enters the maze inside Slytherin's locket to kill the portion of Voldemort's soul that resided in it. Draco Malfoy ended up finishing the job, end of last chapter. It sure does seem shorter when I summarize it, doesn't it?

Voldemort hissed, a twisted smile forming on the mutated face as he drew his wand as well.

"Avada—"

"CONFRINGO!" The spell did not come from Harry, and when he turned to look, he saw Draco had been the one to cast the spell that caused the soul fragment to explode. "Now don't you ever say that I never did anything to end his reign."

"Draco… umm… than—"

"I don't want to hear that from you. You've taken up enough of my time. Even if my conscious self won't recall this encounter at all, you can bet we'll be off-beat for weeks after this. Helping a prick like you is unsettling enough without having to remember it. Now go. You've got something better to do, don't you? Frolicking in fields full of daisies or something?"

And for once the snide remark made Harry smile as he faded out of the maze.

--chapter 32 ends--Chapter 33 begins--

Harry found himself standing upright in the study, hand clutching the now warm metal of the locket. As soon as he realized where he was, he smiled as he turned to the trio behind him.

"Voldemort's soul has been destroyed; the locket isn't a horcrux anymore. There's no point in destroying it too," Harry told them as he clasped the necklace around his neck.

The assembled group gave Harry a strange look for his sudden attachment to the previous horcrux, but decided not to worry about it. If the soul fragment was gone, then what could it hurt?

"So, what now? We can't just go charging off to find Nagini. We need to prepare," announced Hermione (1).

"You're right, but how can we prepare for something that we hardly know anything about? We know she's a snake, she's big, and she can kill you with a bite, but nothing else," agreed Ron. The group thought about it for a while before Ed suggested they look through the Black Family's library.

"The Blacks were one of the most powerful pureblood families, and almost all of them practiced the Dark Arts, right? So in theory, they should have some books on the subject. If we get lucky, we might find more information about the horcruxs. We might even find a spell or something to help us find them," Ed suggested. The trio agreed, and in no time at all they had converged upon the dusty library and raided its shelves for anything that looked like it could be useful—and then some, just in case.

Hours later Ron had fallen asleep on the couch with a book over his face, Hermione was starting to run out of parchment to take notes on, Harry was starting to confuse information and only just avoided merging the thoughts of "the spell fricklebec can throw your voice at an object up to 20 meters away" and "the blue-tailed lizard's feet will give you the ability to scale walls if brewed properly" into something along the lines of "if you put fricklebec feet into a lizard, you can turn blue,"(2) and Ed's book pile had already successfully hidden him from view. They had hardly found any information about horcruxs, but had found many useful spells, charms, and potions that would do no end of good when the time came to fight with Envy. Despite the trio's progress, they were still only novices at transmutation and sparring, so their best bet would be to continue relying on their magic, so the more defense and offence they could learn the better.

Sadly, knowing something is useful has never really been good motivation to stay interested, despite the fact that it should be. Harry was almost ready to face Hermione and tell her they should go to bed when Ed suddenly re-emerged from his cave of books.

"I found something!" he exclaimed excitedly, waking up the sleeping Ron, who fell off the couch with a loud thunk. "It isn't much, but there's a spell that you can cast on an object to tell if it's a horcrux or not. It also says that it is almost impossible to make a living thing into a horcrux, and that in addition to this, the soul needs at least one year to settle before it can become a true horcrux. That's a good thing, right? It means that no new horcruxs could have been created since then. Even if he has made more, they aren't stable. If he dies, they'll go with him. That means we only have to worry about the last two horcruxs, and with this spell we can make sure Nagini is one of them!"

"So what 'er we gonna do? Point our wands 'a erthin' we pass till we get somethin'?" Ron mumbled incoherently, still groggy from sleep and slightly cranky due his rude awakening and subsequent acquaintance with the hardwood floor.

"Of course not, Ron. That would just be silly. Just things that we suspect might have connections with Voldemort or any of the founders," Hermione pointed out, half reprimanding Ron and half proud of herself for not having to be told.

"Exactly," Ed said with a nod. "The best place to start would probably be anything connected to my father, since we don't have any other leads at the moment. I only know a little about what he did while he was in Amestris. I don't know anything about what he did here. You all know about his hand in starting the school, but you probably don't know too much else about his personal life, right?" Ed took the silence from the trio to be a no. "So we should try to get more research done on that. Any leads you find or can think of that relate to an object write down and we can go through the lists together to figure out which of them is most likely."

"Right. You do that. I think I'll have myself a nap…" Ron said, falling back asleep almost immediately.

"I can't help but wonder if he ever woke up at all…" Harry mused aloud before picking up another book.

Sadly, it only took another hour before Harry and Hermione followed Ron's suit and Ed decided to go to sleep as well. There was only so much you could read by candle light. He smothered the un-melted wax candles, pushed a few piles of books out of the way to give him room to lie down in, and instantly drifted off.

--I truly wish I could just telepathically beam my ideas into your head without needing a transition chapter for them…--

It was well into the next day before the teens decided their time would be better spent forming a list of possible horcruxs than continuing to attempt the daunting task of reading all the books in the Black library. At present, they had moved into the living room and were gathered around the fireplace. The weather was starting to get colder outside, and despite the fact that the house was hidden from sight, it wasn't exempt from the wintry conditions of the outside world.

"Ed, you know Gryffindor better than any of us do. What do you think would be important to him?" Harry asked.

"To be honest, I hardly know him at all. I never really cared about knowing—unless of course it had something to do with my goal. Even when he wasn't there he interfered…" Ed trailed off in thought for a moment before trying to answer the question. "Like I said, I don't really know all that much, but the only things I can think of right away are the sword, his alchemy journals, and the Philosopher's Stone, which I don't think would work as a horcrux. The piece of soul would just get lost amongst all the other souls."

"Well, that gives us two things at least… Do you think it's possible for the horcrux to be in Amestris?" Harry suddenly thought.

"I… don't think so. As far as I know the time difference shouldn't allow that. He would have come to my world around the 1700's, and I know that he didn't get back to this world until the 1930's, if not later, and he died in 1943, so there's no way this "Dark Lord" of yours could have made any of his things into horcruxs before he got them back. The only things of his that I took with me were the limbs he made me. There's no way Voldy could have made the horcrux while my father was alive, right?"

"Well… I suppose it is possible. After all, when the Chamber of Secrets was opened the first time over 50 years ago, Riddle was only around 16. In 1943, the year Gryffindor died, Riddle would be around 17 years old, and that was when he took up interest in the idea of horcruxs. It wouldn't be too rash to assume he created this horcrux some time around then."(3)

"I suppose… although wouldn't I have noticed? Would he have told me? I don't remember too much from that time… or at least, not much about home or about him. Although I imagine that would be possible."

"So that means it's possible that something your father had then was the horcrux! Ed, I know you've already said you don't remember much, but do you possibly remember anything he was involved with or interested in at the time?" Harry asked excitedly.

"Not really. Any time he spent at home was working on more arrays for the Thule Society."

"Hmmm… okay, I know this is a huge leap of logic, but didn't your dad make you automail, Ed?" Hermione asked cautiously.

"Yes, he did. But I don't see how that would work. They have to be gone by now, and the automail I have can't possibly have any part of the horcrux in it, since Winry made it for me… she made it just before I left. It just isn't possible. It can't be."

"We have to try. We've already tested the sword and the journal to see if one of them was the horcrux. Since neither was, this is our only lead. It may be far-fetched, but it's our only option now," reasoned Hermione. Ed sighed loudly, more for the dramatic effect than anything else, since he couldn't see how it was even possible to have the horcrux residing in his automail. He quickly rolled up his right sleeve and left pant leg to expose the cold metal so the spell would know that they were checking the limbs, not the synthetic fibers of his new clothes.

"Right then… _animus consanguinei res_! (4)" Hermione shouted, pointing her wand at the arm first. There was a bright flash in which the automail seemed to glow briefly, but it was so short-lived, none of them could be sure they had actually seen anything, or if it was just their eager minds creating something that didn't really exist.

"So… did it work?" asked Ron, saying the question none of the others would ask.

"Who knows? But it looks like my automail is out of the question. Brilliant idea, Hermione. Now what?" Ed asked, reaching to pull his sleeve back down over his arm.

"Hold on, Ed! That was just your arm. We need to try the leg too," the girl pointed out with a slight scowl at Ed's childish behavior.

"Good try, though," Harry consoled as Ed rolled his eyes and let his head drop backwards to make a soft thunking noise as it connected with the back of the couch he was sitting on.

"Oh, stop it! It's not as if it's the end of the world!" the brunette exclaimed.

"It isn't any more likely that my leg is the horcrux than my arm was. Besides—"

"_**Animus consanguinei res**_**!**" Hermione commanded with more vigor than was necessary, effectively stopping Ed from finishing his sentence. This time, when the spell hit his automail leg, the limb began to pulse with a red aura.

"Bloody hell…"Ron said.

"There, see! I told you it was possible!" Hermione gloated, smugly crossing her arms in front of her and straightening her back pretentiously, not letting on that she was just as surprised as everyone else to see the light. According to the book they had found, this was the reaction that should happen if the object was a horcrux. Which meant that not only had Voldemort somehow gotten into the Elric household without ever being noticed by Ed, but he had left the horcrux in the house and it had ended up with Ed.

"This isn't good…" Harry said, at a loss of what else to say.

"Really? I don't see why not. I mean, what do I need to walk for, anyway, right?" Ed said sarcastically, a habit which he rarely ever slipped into with anyone other than Roy or Winry.

"We need to figure out what to do. Now that we know the last two horcruxs are Nagini and Ed's leg, it's clear we will have to deal with Voldemort's snake first. After that, the only way to kill Voldemort will be to destroy Ed's leg. We don't really have any other choices."

"So what will you do if all the horcruxs are destroyed and it just frees Envy up to have the whole body? What can you do against a homunculus if you aren't good enough at either alchemy or sparring to hold it off?" Ed asked sharply. He hardly knew these kids, and this war had nothing to do with him, and yet he still had to give something up? What kind of twisted since of justice did this come from?

It didn't even make sense. There was maybe a .002 percent chance that the automail his _father _had made him might have been tampered with, but Winry had made this particular set especially for him. It was the latest design and was lighter and more flexible than any other kind of automail on the market. She would kill him if he just gave it up. And it couldn't possibly have anything to do with Hohenheim.

Could it?

Ed thought back to the day he had come back from the Gate. Despite the horrible condition of his father's automail, Winry had been thrilled about it. It had taken her almost an hour of exploration and automail-jargon before she had even gotten around to asking him about where he had been for the past few years (5). Ed only took a moment to reflect on the few hours he had spent with her and mentally shake his head at his choice of a girlfriend. Ed was brought out of his reflections by Harry's response to the question.

"There isn't too much we can do about it, but I think we can assume that if that happens, the wizards who follow him will probably get scared and run. An inhuman wizard is better to face than something they can't even categorize. Once their image of their 'Dark Lord' is shattered, they aren't likely to follow him and they'll fall apart. The Order can deal with the unorganized forces."

"So what am I supposed to do? Sit around useless and get someone else to find a way back home for me?"

"If—no, once this is all over, then we can get you to St. Mungo's and they can grow a new leg for you. A new arm too, if you want," Harry assured him.

"You can restore limbs here and you never told me about it? What about bodies? Can you create a new body for someone?" Ed asked, more from habit than interest. His automail had become part of him over the years, and he no longer saw them as a setback. He would admit there were times when the memories of his past made him hate the metal monstrosities, but over the years they had done him more good than harm and he found he had grown rather fond of them. Admittedly he wasn't exactly sure how much of this was due to Winry's brainwashing, but he didn't mind.

"Well, I can't, but the medi-wizards can. To be honest, I don't know very much about healing magic," Harry responded.

"I'd like to do some research on that some time," Ed said with a smile, "but I'll have to pass on getting my limbs re-grown. Is there anything like automail that I could have?"

"We don't have anything nearly as refined as your automail, but the muggles have prosthetic legs that can support weight and can let people walk or run, though not as well as a new leg would," Hermione answered.

"I think I'll make do with that, thanks. But we'll deal with the snake first, right?"

"Of course."

"So tomorrow morning we'll leave for London," Harry said. His life-long journey was drawing to an end, although it was nothing near like what he had thought it would be. Alchemy, magic, and creatures that couldn't die. At least he couldn't call his life boring.

--End of Chapter--

(1): ALTERNATE VERSION of the next few dialogue bits!:

Hermione: So, what now? We can't just go charging off to find Nagini

Ron: and why not? We've been stuck in filler for about 10 or 15 chapters of this fic by now, haven't we? Can't we just jump into action?

Hermione: because then the authoress wouldn't be able to work in any of the information parts she came up with when she was still working on the first two chapters of this fic.

Ron: Oh buggerfuck. (This comment brought to you by the one and only NinjaSquirls. I love my editor.)

Harry: I'm wearing accessories! –grins-

Ed: …No comment.

(2): No, neither of these statements is mentioned in HP. I totally made them up. And I live in New Mexico, so it was either a blue tailed lizard or something about tumbleweed (which is much harder to be inventive with. Not to mention more painful… oooowwwwww…)

(3): This is all actually rather accurate. I talked about it with my editor, and we both agreed this would have been the right age and time. Since the Harry Potter books take place in the 1990's, and book two took place (theoretically) in 1992. 50 years before that is 1942, when Riddle opened the Chamber of Secrets. When Riddle opened the chamber then he was around 16 or 17, which was also around the age he got a job working in Knockturn Ally and, as we were told in Canon, he turned the Cup into a horcrux. Taking this knowledge, I can say that if he went over and found Hohenheim around the same time, then this can all be explained.

(4): Totally made this up. Thank you English to Latin translation sites! I'm not going to say anything more than that. If you want to know what that means in English, I'll let you find it. It took me quite some time to find something that didn't have at least one word that looked exactly like the English word. I'm proud of my spell.

(5): for the purpose of making the FMA timeline fit with this one, I'm saying that Ed actually got to spend some time with Winry after the part of the movie where he comes back from Germany to stop the invasion of the Thule Society. I know this augmentation is impossible as far as cannon goes, but hey. I have artistic license, so there!

A/N: This chapter was almost painful to write. I've been planning this plot twist since around chapter two, so I'm thrilled to finally get it out there, but curses if it wasn't a pain in the ass to write. All in all, this chapter took me about a month to get written. Partly because it was hard to figure out how I wanted to write it to get the info out without making it sound randomly inserted and randomly jumped to, but mostly because of the horrible overtone of filler-chapter made me want to smash my head through a cement wall. So, yeah, sorry about that. I hope you all enjoyed reading it, at least. I tried to make it as good as I could despite (or perhaps because of) the fact that I was putting off my calculus homework to write it every time I sat down to work on it. Please leave a review and tell me what you think!

Also! As for the whole thing with Ed's automail being a horcrux and how it happened, I could probably even do a one-shot about Tom getting to know Hohenheim, exchanging ideas with him, and perhaps on how Tom managed to turn the automail leg into a Horcrux. If I do though, you'd all have to be willing to wait another month or so for an update of this, because that one-shot would replace the update for this. And even though I didn't get to put it in here (since the full explanation for it is too in-depth) I do actually know a) why Ed's leg is the horcrux, not his arm b) how the Hohenheim automail became the Winry automail c) Why Hohenheim knows how to make automail and d) how the Voldy timeline fits into all of this. Feel free to ask me about it in a review! It would make me happy to be able to talk about it even though it didn't go into the fic.


	34. ASSISTANCE & BRIBES!

So, ok. I have what I want to do etched in my brain. I have no idea of how to write it. Big action scene being written by a person who only knows of about 4 moves. 5 page chapter (aproximatly) using mainly/only action. Not going well.  
In other words, unless someone out there knows some martial arts and wouldn't mind taking the time to help me out a little, this chapter will be taking a little longer. I will _probably_ have this written at least by the end of next month. It might be shorter than usual because of the reasons previously mentioned, and the fact that it will take an immense force of will for me to write something that I know is going to be badly written. That is _not _to say that this fic will never be compleated. It will be. I have two--possibly three--chapters left of this fic, and I'll be damned if I stop at chapter 33, give up on the last coupple chapters, and deleate the entierty of **_two years worth of work_** just because I've hit a brick wall.

Basically, if you can help me with this, please do. I now have a live journal page (hanjuuluver) for you to comment on, or you can PM me or even just leave a review to this "chapter" if you want. any and all help regarding this would be fantastic. I am in desperate need of martial arts moves/stances/concepts even and that will make everybody's life a little more bearable when it comes to this fic. So imput is good. Hell, I'll even take a special request for what you want to happen at the end of the story if you can help me out here. And that's saying something too. But I draw the line at lemons, as I suck at them. I_ might _be able to pull off a lime though for some particularly wonderful info.

Yes, I have reduced myself to bribery. If it works, I don't mind. shrugs morals get in the way.

So again, contact me on LJ or by review/PM with some help.


	35. Nagini

So you probably want to know what's taken so damn long, right? To be honest, I'm kind of anxious about these next two chapters (quite possibly the _last_ two chapters). They're going to be high-action, which I suck at. So forgive me and please be patient with the repetitiveness? I don't know anything about martial arts, so all moves listed here were "learned" from the internet and those special reviewers who helped me out. Thanks so much for the assistance! It really helped motivate/inspire me and keep me from death. Well, mostly. I have spent about 2 hours searching for enough moves to use without repeating too many times…So enough with the ranting. I will attempt to be productive now.

Disclaimer: If I owned FMA there would probably be more yaoi, and the action scenes would suck. But Envy would still be bad-ass. Because Envy is so awesome even with my meddling in everything, he would still turn out awesome.

Basic overview of what's happening in story: Voldemort=Envy. Ed helps Harry find/destroy horcruxes. Ed's leg _is_ a horcrux. I feel depressed that my now 34 chapter fic can be summed up that easily…

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

"The snake is with Envy (1), so we'll have to be extremely careful. We still don't know quite what to expect, since we're not sure of all the consequences of their fusion," Ed stated. The group was sitting around the fire in Grimmauld Place planning for the following day.

"Right. The best we can hope for is Envy being the dominant personality and letting the snake loose," reviewed Hermione.

"And if Voldemort is in control, he'll be waiting to keep an eye on Nagini. She usually doesn't go far from him to hunt unless he orders her to—or at least that's the impression both Snape and Remus had of the situation before… Either way she should still be on the grounds of whichever building he's in," Harry concluded.

It was good reasoning, but lacking in a very important way.

"So we still have to search all of London to find a snake?!"

"Ron, I've told you! It'll be easier than that! Voldemort is going to be using magic, so we can still trace the magical residue."

"So we only have go find all the _wizards_ in London. Great!" Ron said sarcastically. Hermione glared at him.

"Well, we've already guessed he's trying to draw us out, so it's likely he'll find us first. We'll only have to try tracing him if we're wrong."

"The government building, right? Why do you think he would be there anyway?" Ron asked. Hermione rolled her eyes and began to say something but Ron interrupted her. "Yah, I know I know, all the inconsistencies and confusion and so on. But what I mean is why would Voldemort be interested in a Muggle government? It just doesn't make sense. If he _is_ trying to draw us out, wouldn't it make more sense to go somewhere in the wizarding world where he's been active before and just wait for us? Most people notice when Death Eaters are causing mayhem and destruction. Word would get to us quickly."

"That's true. What do you think, Ed? You know more about Envy then we do," Hermione pointed out. Ed shrugged.

"I guess it is possible that he's looking for total control of this world. The homunculi did the same thing back in Amestris."

"If that's the case then it's even more important to stop him," Harry concluded. "But for now there isn't much else to do but sleep. The bus will be leaving at 9:30 tomorrow morning." Everybody nodded their heads and dispersed, each occupying an abandoned bedroom, ignoring the dust in relief at something soft to sleep on.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

The morning was quiet and slightly chilled and had passed in primarily silence. Breakfast had been made, bags were quickly repacked, books that were wanted were taken while those that had already been read and memorized were left, and the four had an eventless bus ride to the city hall.

The silence and calm almost seemed to be making things worse, because only a fool would expect such a quiet morning to last—especially when something important had to be done. After all, nothing ever happens according to plan, and if things don't start out disastrous then the rest of the day will only pick up the slack.

Once they reached the actual building the ward-detecting amulet that Hermione had strapped to her wrist like a bracelet started flashing orange, the sign that there were medium- to high-leveled wards around the area—not dangerous, simply effective. In less than five minutes they would be surrounded by Death Eaters. Not unexpected, but not what had been hoped for. Death Eaters meant that Voldemort was probably the controlling personality, which in turn meant that Nagini would be nearby, as would Voldemort himself. They would not be able to get away without confronting the Dark Lord.

"So what now?"Hermione asked the group, already knowing the answer.

"Fight. Hermione, Ron, you try to find Nagini. Let us know when you find her, and we'll try to help however we can. Ed and I will keep Voldemort busy. Just try to kill the snake. Hermione, you have the sword, right?"

"Yes," Hermione acknowledged, reaching into her pocket and removing the shrunken sword.

"Use it. It should work," Harry instructed, enlarging the sword. He could see dark cloaked figures approaching them now. "Hurry." Hermione and Ron nodded and ran off to the north-east where there was the largest gap in Death Eaters, stunning anyone they could and casting up shield spells or dodging to avoid the counter attacks. Harry and Ed attempted to assist their escape as much as possible before heading in the other direction, doing their best to draw attention to themselves. The fight had started, and if they made enough of a racket, Voldemort was sure to come after them.

"Hey there, Pipsqueak. Long time no see, huh?" Envy said with a laugh. "How nice it is to see my _dear_ little brother again."

"You're no brother of mine, bastard. NOW DIE!" Ed said, launching himself at the cloaked form that had come out from a small door moments before. The Death Eaters had all seemed to have gone away—whether it was because they had been ordered away by Envy or had simply left on their own. Either way it was a slight relief. Their plans had been thrown into chaos by the appearance of Envy instead of Voldemort, but in some ways this would make their job easier.

In some ways it made it harder, Harry was reminded as Envy jumped into the air, doing a flip to show off and bringing his heel down right where Ed had stood less than a moment before, following up with a left-handed punch aimed at the small blond, who was crouched down and jumping to the left and back to avoid the dangerous blow, bringing his right leg up and swinging it towards Envy's head, which was just moving into range because of the forward momentum given to him from the jump.

Envy barely managed to bring his head back before the foot connected by leaning back and doing a small backwards summersault, landing on his feet, arms in front of his chest to protect himself from the small alchemist's fists fast approaching fists. His right arm connected, and Envy was pushed back about four inches before coming to a stop, still on his feet and jumping up to bring his right leg up and around towards Ed's left shoulder. Ed ducked to avoid the worst of the blow, but the kick caught the top of his head and tossed him to the side. He quickly rolled away before Envy's fist could come down on top of his head.

Harry took a brief moment to thank Hermione's insight to cast a notice-me-not charm around the building as well as muggle distraction charms that would keep them out of harm and out of the way, as he did his best to aim a stunning spell at Envy without hitting Ed; the two were moving so much it was difficult to get a good aim. As Envy jumped into the air again to avoid a spinning kick given by Ed as he crouched on the ground and swung his left leg around to kick his opponent's feet out from under him Harry was given just the chance he needed. Thinking that a stunning spell would be too easily avoided he cast a binding spell instead and shot ropes out to wrap around Envy's waist. They missed their target, but not by much, wrapping around his left ankle instead—just enough of a deterrent to stop him midair and bring him crashing down into the hard pavement below.

Ed took immediate advantage of the situation, getting in as many kicks and punches as possible, making certain to stay out of grabbing range. He was only able to land three kicks before Envy freed himself from the rope. One to the face, one to the ribs, and a powerful stomp to Envy's stomach. Envy had taken that 15 seconds to turn his leg into rough stone and rip the rope, rolling out of the way and flipping backwards, bring his legs up over his head, narrowly missing Ed's chin, and landing on his feet about four feet away from his attacker. He swiftly jumped to the right as Ed brought his fist curving towards the Homunculi's left cheek; the hit landed, but he avoided the majority of the force. Harry quickly shot a stunning spell, seeing an opening between Ed and the target, but Envy twirled clockwise, sticking his fists out in front of him as he did so to connect with Ed's blocking arms. The force pushed the blond back almost a foot. In the time it took Ed to recover, Envy leapt back a few feet.

"Guess what, Pipsqueak? I've learned a new trick," Envy gloated; his fists were suddenly ignited in a blue fire, but the homunculus was unaffected.

'_Shit,' _thought Harry and Ed simultaneously as Envy launched himself forwards, right knee in front of him and right arm thrust forwards to catch Ed's neck. Ed jumped to the left and lifted his right arm up to block the flaming fist that was now swinging in his direction. The blow landed squarely on the arm, but Ed was not moved and took the opportunity to swing his left leg around and lock it around Envy's right, throwing off the immortal's balance. . Ed took a second to recover from the shock of having his arm burned, but didn't allow himself the time to worry too much about it, as Envy regained his poise with a cartwheel and ran towards Ed with a flurry of rapid punches, flames blurring the movements even more.

Ed transmuted his automail into a short blade and ran under the punches, aiming a slash at Envy's torso. The blow landed, but because Envy had begun to step back just in time the wound was just deep enough to cause him to bleed, but not enough to stop him.

"That hurt, pipsqueak!" Envy growled, swinging his left leg up and over to smack into Ed's neck to emphasize his point.

"Good! This wouldn't be any fun if I couldn't hurt you! It's all your fault I'm here anyway!" Ed retaliated, ducking and running to the left as Envy's twist left him immobile for just the split second that Harry needed to cast a stunning spell.

The spell worked and stopped the succession of attacks.

Meanwhile, Hermione and Ron had been winding their way through the building in search of Nagini.

"It's weird—none of the muggles here seem to notice us at all. That's unusual for a government building, right?" Ron asked Hermione.

"Yes, it is. It's relatively common to have people on the first floor asking about events and such, but not on these upper levels. I've been thinking about that too, and I think Voldemort has cast some form of notice-me not spell so that magical folk go unnoticed."

"That would make sense… Hey! I think I just saw her!" Ron exclaimed as they came up to a dead end on their hall and merging with another hall that ran to either side of them.

"Nagini? Where?"

"Over to the left. I'm not sure, since it was inside a room… Hey, do you think we should let Harry know?"

"No. He and Ed might still be dueling with Voldemort. Besides, we don't even know for sure yet that it's really Nagini that you saw."

"Alright… so we go check?"

"Yes, but there might be Death Eaters around here too. After all, this _is_ Voldemort. I really don't think he'd set up base somewhere without taking at least a few of them along… regardless of being merged with Ed's Envy. Cast a disillusionment charm on yourself and also one of those silencing spells. As soon as you're done we'll go check the rooms—starting with the one you thought you saw her."

"I thought you didn't like Harry and I using that charm," Ron said teasingly.

"Not when you're using it for no reason, Ron. Now don't argue and just do it, ok?" Hermione retorted, casting the required spells upon herself and then proceeded towards the second door down the left branch of the hall. Ron snickered one last time before following her lead.

A quick look over the room yielded five Death Eaters, two tables, a coffee machine, and Nagini slithering towards the window where she could bask in the sun. As soon as the two teens walked in the door she seemed to notice their presence and stopped, slithering around to face them and glare with her cold eyes.

Ron couldn't suppress the shudder that ran down his spine at the sight of the large snake. This was the beast that had almost killed his dad a few years ago. This was Nagini—Voldemort's pet and one of the last two horcruxes left. And he had to kill it.

Ron was the first to fire off a curse at Nagini—the Death Eaters could come after if his attack was successful. The _confringo _hit directly where Nagini had been, but for a snake of her size, she was also surprisingly quick and intelligent, moving her torso the required three inches to the side to avoid the blast which left a small black scorch mark in the spot it had landed as well as alerting the Death Eaters of their entrance.

Although they had masked their presence they could not make themselves entirely unnoticeable—the Death Eaters looked over to where the spell had been fired and one of the ones to the far left shouted "_Homenum revilo_," a spell that reveals human presence anywhere within a five foot radius where the spell was cast. The spell hit before either Hermione or Ron had a chance to get out of the effective range of the spell.

"_Incarcerous_!" Hermione shouted, pointing her wand at the offender, effectively wrapping several thick ropes around his torso and arms, rendering him immobile.

A quick succession of spells were hurriedly sent their way. The few incantations that the two could hear (most of the spells being cast silently) were not promising—cruciartus and avada kadavra among them. Most of them were dodged, and the ones that were not were blocked by Ron and Hermione's quickly cast shield charms; the battle was long from once-sided however, and another three Death Eaters were quickly stunned or trapped in rope—one of them hung from his ankle from an invisible rope on the ceiling, unable to retrieve the wand that he had dropped when the spell was cast. One of the two remaining Death Eaters managed to escape—probably to alert any others in the area. Hermione had tried to go after him, but was stopped by one of the tables sailing towards her head. She swiftly ducked, shouting "_REDUCTO!"_ as it went by, shattering it into hundreds of tiny splinters. The hooded figure cast a fire shooting spell, sending about twelve fireballs at Hermione. Ron cast _aguimenti_ as Hermione shot one final stunning spell at the man before he had another chance to retaliate—he fell with a sickening thud which caused Ron to twinge.

"Again I remember why I never want to get you mad…"

Hermione ignored his comment and quickly set about relocating Nagini. "Help me find the snake, Ron. We don't want to be here when that other one comes back with reinforcements."

"Right."

It only took about ten minutes to find Nagini. Ron was the one to find her in the same room hiding behind the desk in a 5 inch gap. The reptile gazed coldly at Ron for no more than the span of a second before rearing back. Knowing she was about to strike, Ron quickly jumped away, remembering quite vividly the scene of his father in the intense care ward of St. Mungos and bleeding horribly from the wounds this very snake had given him.

As soon as the snake emerged from behind the desk he cast Sccumpcentra and Nagini was promptly sliced into twelve clean cut pieces—as if by invisible wires. Ron was breathing heavily from a combination of the shock of killing something so viciously as well as from the exertion of using such a high level spell.

"I did it…. I really killed it… I killed the snake—the…the Horcrux. It's gone!"

"Yes, Ron! Now come _on_! I think more Death Eaters are coming! Let's get out of here and go help Harry and Ed!"

"R—Right. Right, sure. Let's go," Ron stammered, looking back at the severed snake one last time before running out of the room behind Hermione.

Harry and Ed had hardly time to begin discussing how to find Ron and Hermione before the two burst out the doors, waving at them—at the same time, Envy broke free from the stunning spell.

"You bastards! You killed the damn snake, didn't you?" Envy hissed, eyes briefly flashing to Voldemort's eyes. Harry noticed suddenly the being before them was far more Voldemort than Envy and took a step back, drawing his wand out again to deflect any spells that were shot at him. With one last scream of agitation he apperated away.

"Is it true? You got the snake?" Harry asked, looking at Hermione first and then Ron.

"Yes. Ron killed Nagini. That leaves Voldemort himself and... Sorry, Ed, but your leg too."

Ed nodded. "I know."

(1): Envmort. Because it's Envy and Voldemort! MWAHAHA!!!

A/N: I'm sorry this took so long, everyone. In all honesty my bunny for this fic died off about a year ago, but I'm too damn stubborn to stop when I've come this far!!! You have just read the second to last chapter of this fic. The next one will be the big fight with Lord Voldykins. I'm off my flow so I'm going to have to actually plan how I want the fight to go. Any suggestions are welcomed, but currenty I have three options I'm playing with. Since you all probably have more of a grip on this story now then I do, I'm asking you to help me pick.

magic only (side options of with/without Death Eaters and/or with/without magical creatures)

Alchemy/hand-to-hand only as far as Voldykins goes. (side options same as previous)

Combination of Magic and Alchemy (same side options as previous)

So? What do you think? Any other things you'd like to see before the end? One-shot type side stories you'd like to know more about? Questions about what has happened so far? Please feel free to ask any questions you want to or comment on the story/my writing style/whatever. Flames are accepted with open arms—really they are. Don't feel awkward telling me if this chapter sucked or that I am a 3 toed platypus with a broken arm trying to write something and failing horribly. Whatever. Just please review. Those are about half of what is keeping this fic a goal in my head right now.

Also, I apologize but the second half of this was not edited because I am an idiot and didn't send the completed file to my editor, but I still want to have this up today as a little (day late) Christmas present. I'll have her edit the rest later and repost it then, but for now I'm just happy I managed to find this because I thought it was gone…

Also! Many thanks to reviewers who helped me with this chapter by giving advice and support! Without you I honestly don't know if this chapter would have gotten up for Christmas (well, day after Christmas because I am a horrible person. Sorry again!). These awesome people include Starwings1, Rae, EowynsPen, incarnate of evil, and sandypinkkitty (who just made me lose The Game again).


	36. Newton's Third Law

Ok, last chapter of this fic! I realize that you all probably thought I'd given up, which admittedly is partly right, and because of that I apologize ahead of time if this seems rushed, choppy, or otherwise unsatisfactory, but honestly it's about the best I can do. And with this, my longest fan fiction, my first real chapter fic, and the fic that started it all, comes to a close after three long, eventful years. Enjoy, chapter 33 of Quest for Home: Newton's Third Law

Disclaimer: If I owned FMA, it would have never been finished. Too much work. Also, there would probably be more slashiness.

CHAPTER 33: NEWTON'S THIRD LAW

This was it, this would be the deciding battle. There were only two Horcruxes remaining: one trapped in Edward Elric's leg, and one in Envy himself, and that was where the problem was.

"Let's face it. We don't know what will happen if we kill Voldemort with one of the Horcruxes remaining. He could do what he did last time and simply vanish somewhere to regain his strength. If we lose him now, we won't have a second chance at this for decades. We need to destroy the last Horcrux before we battle with him," Hermione reasoned, not for the first time. The group had been debating the subject for hours now and it was high time they reached a decision. But not without one more loud complaint from Ed.

"But I _need_ that leg! It helps me move! Without it I won't be able to use hand-to-hand!"

"—and that's why we have you stick with backing us up alchemically during the battle," Harry pointed out.

"Yeah. Because it'll be _much_ easier sneaking into a secure building with one of you levitating me into a corner." Ed snarled his words with so much sarcasm a deaf man could have picked up on it.

"Fine. Compromise. You can help with the battle using your hand-to-hand techniques _as long as_ you don't hesitate to destroy your left leg the moment you see us holding the upper hand, or if we are in position to kill him. If you do, then—" Hermione trailed off, dangling the obvious ending of that sentence for someone else to finish.

"Yeah, yeah. Save the ominous tone for someone who needs it. I know what's at stake here for you guys. I swear that if you are in a position that you can win, I'll use that sword of yours to break the leg. But for me to do that, you'll have to trust me with the sword for the battle. There will be no way of giving it to me discreetly when you need to. Besides, I don't think any of you have any real skill with a sword, am I right? I find it even less likely that you can use physical combat skills while using magic as well. I'm more experienced with mixing alchemy and physical attacks then you."

"Alright, so we're agreed," Harry stated, enlarging Gryffindor's sword and holding it out to Ed to take. "We go in together. We'll try to beat him with magic, you jump in _only_ as backup when we need it, and you destroy the Horcrux in your leg the moment we hold the odds. Got that?"

Ed took the sword and nodded.

"Good. Now we have to find Voldemort. He probably won't have gone too far… with Nagini dead, he'll be more angry than afraid. He'll want us dead. Soon. My guess is that if he doesn't send Death Eaters to bring us to him, he'll make certain we can find him and that we can't turn our backs. Ideas?"

"Diagon Alley." Ron spoke with conviction. " 's the perfect place. It's just crowded enough that it'll be hard to fight him without having to worry about hitting someone who isn't involved, and at the same time there will be enough dark wizards in the area for him to call on if he needs backup. It'll be hard for people like us who don't want to hurt people, and easy for people like them who couldn't care less. He'll be in Diagon Alley."

"Good assessment, Ron. I think you're right. Fastest way there from here aside from Apparating is by trolley. There's a stop not five minutes from here if we hurry. We can be at the Leaky Cauldron in less than an hour. Let's go." Harry walked briskly out the door of the abandoned storage facility they'd been resting in and headed towards the trolley stop they'd seen on their way there before. Assuming the trolley was actually on time, they'd have seven minutes to get there. If it wasn't and they missed it, it'd be another half hour wait. That was time they might not have. Hermione was the first to follow him out, then Ron, and last of all Ed, carrying the re-enlarged sword of Gryffindor.

They made the trolley with only one minute to spare and quickly discovered the white-elephant effect the sword educed. Everyone seemed to notice, but no one felt inclined to speak up about it. In a less serious situation, it would have probably made the lot of them laugh, but at the moment all any of them could see it as was a small blessing.

Thanks to a detection charm that Hermione had muttered as they got on, they were alerted to five Death Eaters coming at them during the ride and managed to subtly dispose of all of them without attracting any more of a reaction from the rest of the passengers then they'd already gotten, and arrived at the Leaky Caldron with only a Squib having caught on to them(Hermione had noticed her because she clung tightly to several wizarding protection amulets that seemed to have been added as purse bangles every time one of their wands peaked out of a sleeve).

It surprised none of them to find the usually populated bar deserted when they arrived, with the exception, of course, of a handful of Death Eaters. The first five were put down quickly, but after Ron received a glancing blow from a fire spell, Ed used alchemy to entrap the remaining opponents in some of the concrete from the building—just enough to bind their arms, but not enough that the structural integrity of the building was endangered. It bought enough time for the trio to stun the enemy and then rush forward towards the secret wall in the back of the pub that became the doorway to Diagon Alley.

"At least we know we're in the right place!" Ed commented as they ran, only missing a beat at the surprise of having a wall fold in on itself to expose the bustle of the wizarding marketplace. Unfortunately, it was not the normal sort of shopping bustle, but more of the 'don't get yourself killed' kind of bustle. It was indeed the right place. And in the middle of it all was…

"Hey! Shrimp and friends! There you are! I was starting to _wonder_ what was _taking_ you so long!" It was strange, to say the least, to hear Envy's familiar flirtatious sneer coming from the hideous, snake-like man who had fired off wordless spells randomly into the writhing crowd.

It didn't take long to notice the Death Eaters spilling out of the alleyways to help cause more chaos, black cloaks made more ominous by the skull masks they wore and the Dark Mark that glowed menacingly in the grey sky. The crowd grew even more frenzied.

"We have to do something to get rid of all these people!" Harry yelled, trying to be heard over the roar of screams and spells and fear.

"…I've got an idea!" Ed said, clapping his hands.

The trio had just enough time to register the words before all the Death Eaters, Voldemort, and the trio were elevated on platforms that rose from the ground and then fanned out to form a sort of second-story to the plaza below them. "I might have missed a few. Ron! Help me search below!"

Ron nodded and joined Ed beneath the newly formed fighting platform. A quick count resulted in 24 Death Eaters and one psychotic dark lord/homunculi. The odds were more than against them, but the alternative was locking more Death Eaters in with the civilians, and the Hero-complex issue made that further behind than the option of pushing the Boy-Who-Lived off a cliff.

Harry quickly dodged a _Crucio_ that came from somewhere off to his left, sending an undirected banishing charm in that general direction, and knocking three or four of the cloaked figures off their feet for a moment while Hermione cast an _Avis_ charm, conjuring two dozen birds from thin air, which she then spelled to attack the Death Eaters. In the eight seconds it took for this transaction to play out, Envy managed to punch a hole through the concrete flooring and escape down to the lower level, far too quickly for either Harry or Hermione to do anything about it.

"Damn it! He's got away! ED! RON! VOLDEMORT'S FOUND A WAY DOWN!!" he shouted, hoping his warning had arrived in time for one or both of them to do anything about it. He heard no response and hoped that it was simply because they were too busy fighting to say anything. It was too difficult to pinpoint the sound of a duel or fist fight from this distance with all the noise.

"Don't worry, Harry, I'm sure they're …_Immobulus!_ Damn, missed him…_ Petrificus totalus_! Just fine." And one more Death Eater was down, and another smoldering curse mark scored the floor just next to Hermione's right leg.

"I hope you're right, Hermione!" Harry replied, conjuring more attack birds to replace the few that had been killed by the Death Eaters. It was a slow method, but effective. The birds would attack the faces of the Death Eaters and throw off their aim, as well as occasionally blind one. It was a bit gruesome, but it was effective. Three had fallen blind already, one immobilized, and two knocked unconscious. That left 18 more Death Eaters, and they were getting better at deflecting the physical attacks of the birds by simply setting fire to them—the flaming birds falling on top of them were apparently less trouble then the non-flaming ones that could strike to wound.

Harry took a moment to recall one of the circles Ed had taught them and drew out a quick circle on the cement with a charred bird leg, activating it not even a second before he was struck by a stunning spell from one of his attackers. Five more were encased in a brick blob that he had intended to be a fist like Ed's transmutations. It wasn't pretty, but it was effective. Thirteen more to go. Hermione undid the curse and Harry was back on his feet just as a killing curse hit the spot he'd been in a moment before.

A _Crucio_ hit Hermione, who had thrown up a shield thinking it had been a stun. Her choked scream made the brief moment between her being hit and Harry firing a _sectumsempra_ at the man who had done it longer than the moment it took for Harry to realize what he'd done as the stricken Death Eater spurted blood from a series of long, deep cuts across his torso. Harry cringed, but re-fired the spell at a group of three that had been standing nearby. As much as he detested the thought of killing, the thought of what the consequences could be if he didn't seemed, at the moment, worse. He was angry, and scared. And this needed to be over _now_ so he could help Ron and Ed, but there were still another eight Death Eaters and Hermione was struggling to stand back up. He needed things that could take down multiple people at once and keep them from getting back up again anytime soon.

Ten minutes, four attack spells, three counter attacks, and one desperately called for hard punch later, the last of the Death Eaters was grounded by an _immobulous_ spell cast by Hermione, who was leaning back against a pillar she'd transmuted for herself. "I'll be fine here by myself, Harry. Go to Ron and Ed."

"Are you sure, Hermione?" Harry asked. He knew she was, but he still had to ask.

"Harry, everyone else here is either unconscious, immobilized, or dead. I don't think they'll pose much of a problem for me. In this state I'd only slow you down. Now go! They'll need you down there!" To illustrate her point she transmuted steps down to the plaza below for him. He started to say something else, but one last glare from her that said, in no uncertain terms, that if he didn't go away now she'd curse him down was all the push he needed to heed her words. He ran down the steep steps without a backwards glance and alighted onto the plaza once more.

The scene was not the one he had been preparing himself for. There were no crowds of innocent people, no dead people, in fact, the only people there were Ron, Ed, Voldemort, and five Death Eaters whom Ron was disposing of without too much effort as Ed alternatively dodged spells and assaulted Voldemort with a flurry of punches and kicks. Not half an hour ago there had been at least 150 people crowding the streets. Now there were practically none. But he realized that this was not the time to ask questions.

"Ed! Now!" he shouted, just as Ed swung the sword at the homunculi's arm—the swing was dodged, though barely, by the intended target before it buried itself into Ed's left leg with a earsplitting clang. The leg shot out from under him, pieces shattering out from the gap in the cloth caused by the sword, and Ed lost his balance and fell, transmuting a hole underneath him as he fell. An insult about clumsiness induced by wielding a sword longer than the individual using it was cut short by a scream of rage that was very certainly Voldemort. The last two Death Eaters were caught off guard just long enough for Ron to use the _Incarscerous_ spell and bind them with ropes and knock away their wands.

The moment of truth. Could he kill Voldemort?

Harry actually laughed aloud at the question. He just killed four of his followers for hurting Hermione and for keeping him from this very same battle. If he could kill them, he could kill Voldemort—killer of his parents, tormenter of thousands, murderer of countless muggles whose family could never explain the sudden deaths, and he, Harry, was the one destined to kill him. So yes, he could. He could kill a killer. A cruel smile smeared his face for the briefest of moments before… "Goodbye, Voldemort. _Sectumsempra!" _ The power behind the words forced the cuts deeper then he'd ever thought possible, and in moments Voldemort was dead.

It was over. Seven years had all been leading up to this, and now it was over, and Harry felt precious little remorse for this last life he'd taken. The other Death Eaters he felt a pang of guilt for—they probably had families, and for all he knew they only joined Voldemort to protect them. Those deaths would probably continue to haunt him for the rest of his life. But Voldemort? Tom Riddle had died long ago. Harry had merely killed the remaining shell. There was to be no regret for it.

This left but one issue. "Can someone help me out of this hole?" Ed's voice issued from the small crater he had transmuted for himself during the battle. Ron obligingly helped pull him out and set him down on a nearby stair case. "Now what?"

"Now we stick to our end of the deal and help figure out a way to get you back to your world. Do you have any ideas how to do that?" Harry asked.

"Perhaps. If I remember correctly you said that your godfather—Sirius, was it?—was swallowed up by a… a curtained portal of sorts? And that you heard whispering from behind it?" Ed inquired.

"…yes…." Harry responded, trepidation apparent in his voice.

"If my theory is correct, then it is actually a permanently opened portal called The Gate—the thing that made me come here—and if I go through it I should go back to Amestris."

"And if you're wrong?" Hermione said, asking the question that Ed had implied.

"Then I'm stuck forever in a swirling, timeless, probably tormenting void."

"How can you say something like that so calmly?" Ron asked in a horrified tone.

"Because I'm reasonably sure that I'm right. And if I'm not, it's still worth the risk." Ed had gone over the consequences almost ever since he found out about that aspect of Harry's past. A life without Roy he could cope with. A life without Winry or his brother, he could not. If he didn't take this chance now, there was a high likelihood he'd try something even more dangerous later on. The potential cost was worth the potential gain. And if he'd talked his way out of The Gate before, he could do it again. Probably. "Anyway, the theory is fairly solid. It's unlikely that anyone could create a void that was simply a void but could still produce effects like wind or voices. Also, there is a chance that with my going in and returning, you might be able to get your godfather back, so long as a suitable price is paid—I can think of nothing more appropriate in this situation than the body of the one you know as Voldemort. A homunculus combined with a powerful human wizard—the potential power stored in that body ought to be enough for the transaction."

At the suggestion the trio raised eyebrows. The offer was certainly interesting, but was such a thing really possible? They'd all since accepted Sirius' death—even Harry. What would it be like to have a dead man amongst them once more? Wonderful, of course, but… The very idea that he might not be dead was a concept too large to take in at once…

"You might remember that I said it was in the Ministry of Magic? In the Department of Mysteries? I'm not sure we could even get you that far, let alone with the corpse of Voldemort," Harry pointed out.

"Even for The-Boy-Who-Saved-The-World-From-He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named? That should get you somewhere, surely?" Even though he said it himself, Ed knew from personal experience that governments had never opened themselves up to heroes. But perhaps this world was different? If it wasn't, he didn't know if he could ask them to help him drag a body into the most prestigious government building in the British part of the wizarding world. The action itself would fulfill equivalent exchange, but the aftermath of the action might not. Being in debt to someone from an alternate dimension was something he'd rather avoid having guilt about.

"It…. I might be able to arrange it," Harry ventured.

"Really?" Ed asked, not bothering to disguise his surprise at the response.

Harry responded in a similarly surprised manner. "You mean you didn't really think that…?"

"Nope! But if you think it will, that's good enough for me!" The group stood in silent astonishment. "What?"

"You really are something of an anomaly, aren't you, Ed?" Hermione said, shaking her head.

Ed shrugged. "I figured that should be obvious by now. So how far away are we from the Ministry, anyway?"

"…not far," Hermione said, shaking off her shock and momentary befuddlement to answer Ed's question. "about three or four blocks."

"Good!" Ed exclaimed, the clap of his hands sounding loudly around the silent, abandoned street before a large crevasse was opened up in the middle of the road, revealing the makeshift hiding place Ed had herded them all into shortly after creating the elevated fighting platform. The astonished-looking witches and wizards had just begun stumbling back out into the daylight when Ed transmuted a pair of crutches from the stone next to him and pulled himself up with them.

"Let's not waste time! Someone carry that body for me?" Ed asked, whacking the head of the now-deceased Envy a few times with his crutch for good measure. Ron flinched back, Hermione looked up at the sky in what could have been either exasperation, amusement, or relief, and Harry contented himself with shrugging his shoulders and levitating the body, walking towards the ministry in hopes that by doing so he could subtly remind Ed that he needed Harry for directions. The blond took the hint and quickly turned around as if he'd been intending to head west the entire time and was not just about to walk in a south-eastern direction. The other two followed behind shortly.

It was a short walk to the ministry and a shorter one to the Department of Mysteries. There was just something about the Golden Trio plus a hitherto unknown blond-haired, golden-eyed, one-legged boy with a metal arm, and the floating corpse of the most feared wizard on the planet that caused people to gawk at them as they walked by. A few of the more bold officials tried to look upset and stern, but most of them simply looked flustered and confused, and the ones who didn't were trying to attack them with more spells, either to stop them from getting to the Department of Mysteries or because they were Voldemort supporters – or possibly just being controlled by them. Either way, this opposition was lazily swept aside by the group by either a counter spell or jinx, or, failing that, the occasional alchemical binding from Ed. Someone would break them free later, he reasoned with himself. And if not, well, they'd been asking for it. He wasn't in the mood to put up with any unnecessary fighting. He just wanted to get home to Winry and Alphonse.

It took only about twenty minutes to reach the department—it would have been less, but what with the… distractions of occasional attacks and getting lost once or twice, it was the best they could do. Once they reached the spinning doors that kept them from knowing which door was which, Harry recapped how they had found the door they needed the last time around, and Ed scoffed at the waste of time and deconstructed all the doors, not bothering to reconstruct them into anything. Sure, the doors were impervious to all magical attacks, but no one had really accounted for an alchemist, who in their world only worked at producing Stones, coming in and dismantling the thing. Two minutes later they were standing in the large room, staring directly at the large arch that sucked all attention to it as if to do anything other than stare would be a sort of blasphemy.

The group stood huddled about six feet away from the gently wafting curtains. The quiet whispers seemed to beckon to them all—just a piece of fabric between the world of the known and the unknown. It'd be so easy to just reach out and pull it open… so easy to—

"Don't touch it, Ed! It'll suck you in just like it did Sirius!" Hermione warned. Ed glanced back at her. He was now a scarce foot away from the marble-like stone that housed what he was sure was The Gate.

"What? Oh! I know _that_! I was just curious… I didn't think it was even possible to sustain a Gate like this… Then again, every time I've seen it before I was standing right in front of it and, well, kind of lacking a functional body. Makes it kind of hard to walk around it. It's just so curious… What I'd give to look at the research for this! The old man mentioned some of it in the Journal—I thought it was impossible, but here it is! And yet… The calculations in the journal can't have possibly been enough to construct a gate as functional as this, even _with_ a Stone…"

"Ed?" Hermione asked—it was less of a question and more of a reminder that they were all there and that they were most certainly not supposed to be.

"Oh. Right. Well then. Uhhh… It's been fun? I don't really know what to say. I've never really been one for goodbyes. I usually just kind of… Go." He shrugged. "If it means anything, I do hope that things improve for you guys and your world here. Take care of each other and try not to get yourselves killed or enlisted. And… uhhh… I'll take that now," he said, snatching the floating body of Voldemort/Envy, which promptly fell to the ground, and made his hobbling way towards the Gate once again.

"Wait! Ed!" Harry shouted. Ed turned around, head tilted slightly to the side, eyebrow raised. "Take care of yourself. No more dying. And, uh… I hope you're right."

Ed just smirked and lifted a crutch in what could have been called a wave if one had a very loose hold on vocabulary, and stepped through the thick curtains, the body he tugged disappearing shortly after, but not before the trio glimpsed a blinding sort of white light and what they would later pass over as a figment of their imagination and the light, but damned if it didn't look like the dark black silhouette of a child staring out at them.

"_Hello again, Edward Elric_," said the figure.

"Cut the crap. We both know the deal. You've been holding a man known as Sirius Black here, and I highly doubt you returned anything for it, am I right?" There was a silence that somehow managed to give off the impression of awkward shifting. "I thought so. So here's the deal. Put back what you took, take this thing from me, put me back in Risembool AT THE RIGHT TIME and we'll try not to see each other again. Got it?"

"_We are The Gate. There is only Equal Exchange here. You propose that we return the man _and _yourself for only one dead body_?" asked an all-consuming consciousness that almost, but not quite, emanated from the dark childish shadow-figure that stood before him.

"No. what I am proposing is that you put back the man you took—a one –for-one exchange, and then return _me_ in exchange for this body which, as I'm sure you already know because you're a know-it-all bastard—"

"_We are a consciousness. We cannot be a bastard, as we have not been fathered_," corrected the self-conscious sounding presence.

"Yeah. Whatever. As I was saying, you return me in exchange for this body which was the product of a powerful homunculus from my world joining with one of the most powerful wizards of Earth—a combination of two separate kinds of beings from two separate worlds solidifying all their knowledge and ambitions into one being. I know you're interested in that."

There was a thoughtful silence. "_Yes._"

"Good. Then get on with it."

"_We cannot. The body is enough to ensure your passage, but the man cannot simply be returned. A price must be paid for the effort to bring him back. Transfer of matter is one thing, but the energy it takes to do so is another. Another price must be paid."_

Ed glared at the figure in front of him, which seemed quite pleased with itself. "You enjoy this, don't you?"

"_We are not human, we do not know _joy."

"Fuck you."

"_We do not know_—"

"Just shut up. Fine. How about this. You can take my wand and my ability to do a wizard's magic, but you leave my alchemy and everything else alone, got that?" A small part of him couldn't help but be tiredly amused by the fact that arriving at the gate had become commonplace enough that he could barter with a formless consciousness and hardly even blink.

"_It is a fair trade_," it replied, slightly disappointed sounding, as if it wished it could have taken more from him.

The doors before him opened and he was enveloped by black arms that pulled him in. "You better not screw me over this time, you bastard." He caught a whiff of annoyance as the doors closed, and a brief image of a long haired, wiry looking man standing in his place staring back at him in wonder. Then there was darkness.

The three seconds it took for Ed to enter the arch and for Sirius to step bewilderingly back out had seemed, as clichédas it sounded, like an eternity. Although the sight of him did not guarantee that Ed had made it through alright himself, it improved the odds than if nothing had happened at all. And, atop all of that, Sirius was _back_! Back from what they had all thought to be death, and yet…

Words simply were not enough at that moment, and because of that no one tried to say anything—words would have made it all seem almost trivial. Harry and Sirius hugged each other for the first time in far too long.

When the group burst triumphantly through the doorway to no. 13 Grimmauld place, Remus peeked his head out from the kitchen to see what all the commotion was.

At the sight of Sirius, he dropped the spoon and pan he'd been holding, not caring about the tomato sauce that sloshed all over the tile and on his pants as he rushed forward and tackled his best friend down to the floor, only avoiding giving either of them a concussion by wrapping his arms around Sirius' head an instant before the landing. He was grinning like a madman and crying like a child. Sirius was back! Sirius Black, the last other Marauder, was back! And there was no way he was going to disappear again. There would be a feast that night, and there would be much to talk about.

Ed tumbled out of the Gate and came to a halt lying flat on his back, staring up at a bright, almost cloudlessly blue sky, sun glaring in his eyes and grass prickling at the back of his neck. With a groan he shielded his eyes and slowly sat up. You'd think with infinite knowledge The Gate would be able to at least let him out on his feet. He had a feeling it had done that on purpose. He rubbed at his backside and looked around him.

This was the hill that used to run behind his house… that meant he was only about a ten, fifteen minute walk away from Winry's house. He noticed that the Gate had taken his stone crutches as well and glared behind him, as if there would be anything there to glare at aside from crops and empty fields before transmuting himself a new pair and hobbling off down the dirt path he'd been so familiar with as a child.

He stood in front of the large wooden door labeled "Rockbell Automail" for a good two minutes before knocking tentatively at the door, almost hoping no one would answer and he'd have to catch a train to Central. Be it fortunate or unfortunate, Winry's voice shouted "BE RIGHT THERE!" and there was the sound of pounding footsteps as someone ran down the stairs and skidded to a halt on the other side of the door.

Another moment and the door opened slowly (she'd gotten down the polite welcome of guests, even though the etiquette of getting to the door was still sketchy at best). She started to smile and extend a hand to welcome the customer before…

"YOU!! You! You! You IDIOT!!!!" And there was the wrench in his face. Again. Just about the welcome he'd been expecting.

"Good to see you too, Winry."

"Oh, God! I thought I'd never _see_ you again!" She exclaimed shakily, trying only momentarily to keep the tears out of her eyes. She started crying. He got hit with another wrench. And then there was another voice coming from somewhere inside the house. It was a voice Ed had died several times to hear, and it was so worth it.

"Winry? What's wrong? Who's there?" And Alphonse Elric came walking around the corner and stopped in his tracks as he saw the blond who lay on the ground, propping himself up with one arm, a pair of crutches strewn on either side of him where they'd landed when Winry's first wrench had floored him.

"Hey, Al. Miss me?" Ed said with a worried sort of grin.

"You idiot!" Al choked, smiling down at his brother.

"I love you guys too," Ed said. Winry smiled through her tears and flung herself on him, kissing him squarely on the lips.

Yup. It had all been worth it.

A/N: For anyone who was wondering, Newton's Third Law states that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. I almost named it Reactions, but Newton's Third Law is more nerdy. XP

Thank you all so much for sticking with me until the end. It means a lot to me. I hope that you will continue reading my stories even now that Quest for Home has ended.

On a less tender sounding, but equally heartfelt note, DONE, YOU SON-OF-A-BITCH-FIC! HA! TAKE THAT! –gloats over finally finishing it—


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